entrails (English)

Where does "entrails" come from?

The English word 'entrails' traces its lineage back through Middle English 'entraille'[1] and Old French 'entrailles'[1] to the Vulgar Latin form 'intrālia'[1]. This Vulgar Latin term descends from the classical Latin 'interānea'[1], meaning things that are internal, which derives from 'interāneus'[1] and ultimately the preposition 'inter'[1]. Further back, 'inter' descends from the Proto-Italic form '*ənter' and the Proto-Indo-European adverb '*h₁entér', meaning 'between'[2].

Open questions

• The Proto-Italic and Proto-Indo-European ancestral forms are reconstructed linguistically rather than directly attested in writing. [2]

Full etymology tree

• entrails (English), 'plural of entrail'
  • inherited entraille (Middle English)
    • inherited entrailles (Old French), 'oblique/nominative plural of entraille'
      • inherited intrālia (Vulgar Latin)
        • inherited interānea (Latin)
          • derived interāneus (Latin)
            • derived inter (Latin), 'between, among'
              • inherited *ənter (Proto-Italic), 'between'
                • inherited *h₁entér (Proto-Indo-European), 'between'
  • inherited entrailles (Middle English)
    • inherited entrailles (Old French), 'oblique/nominative plural of entraille'
      • inherited intrālia (Vulgar Latin)
        • inherited interānea (Latin)
          • derived interāneus (Latin)
            • derived inter (Latin), 'between, among'
              • inherited *ənter (Proto-Italic), 'between'
                • inherited *h₁entér (Proto-Indo-European), 'between'

Ancestors

• entrailles (Old French)

Cognates and doublets

• entraña (Spanish)

Sources

1. entrails (English) - Wiktionary
2. inter (Latin) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris