etymon

noun

et·​y·​mon ˈe-tə-ˌmän 

plural etyma ˈe-tə-mə  also etymons

1

a

: an earlier form of a word in the same language or an ancestral language

b

: a word in a foreign language that is the source of a particular loanword

2

: a word or morpheme from which words are formed by composition or derivation

Word History

Etymology

Latin, from Greek, literal meaning of a word according to its origin, from etymos true; akin to Greek eteos true — more at sooth

First Known Use

1573, in the meaning defined at sense 1a