seis (Galician)
Where does "seis" come from?
The Galician word 'seis' traces its roots back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European term *swéḱs, meaning six. As the word moved into Latin as 'sex' and later into Old Galician-Portuguese, it evolved phonetically while maintaining its original mathematical meaning. This ancient root serves as a common ancestor for the word 'six' in many modern languages, including English.
Full etymology tree
- seis (Galician), 'six'
- inherited seis (Old Galician-Portuguese)
- inherited sex (Latin), 'six; 6'
- inherited *seks (Proto-Italic), 'six'
- inherited *swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European), 'six'
- derived *wéḱs (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European), 'six'
- inherited *seks (Proto-Italic), 'six'
- inherited sex (Latin), 'six; 6'
- inherited seis (Old Galician-Portuguese)
Ancestors
- sex (Latin)
- *swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris