météo (French)
Where does "météo" come from?
The French word météo is a modern clipping of the longer term météorologie, which traces its roots back to the Ancient Greek word meteōrología, meaning the study of things high in the air. While it originally referred to the scientific field, the shortened form is now used in everyday French to describe both the general state of the weather and the daily forecast.
Full etymology tree
- météo (French), 'weather (general state of weather)'
- clipping of météorologie (French), 'meteorology (science)'
- borrowed from μετεωρολογία (Ancient Greek), 'treatise on celestial phenomena'
- compound of μετέωρᾰ (Ancient Greek)
- suffix -λογία (Ancient Greek), 'Base for nouns denoting the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline.'
- borrowed from μετεωρολογία (Ancient Greek), 'treatise on celestial phenomena'
- clipping of météorologie (French), 'meteorology (science)'
Descendants and derived words
- bombe météo (French)
Updated March 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris