παιδαγωγία (Ancient Greek)

Where does "παιδαγωγία" come from?

The Ancient Greek noun 'παιδαγωγία' comes from the related noun 'παιδαγωγός', meaning 'teacher, leader'[1]. This foundational form combines 'παῖς', meaning 'child', with 'ἄγω', meaning 'I lead', or with the related form 'ᾰ̓γωγός', meaning 'guide, escort'[1][2]. Through these roots, the word evolved to represent the actions of guiding, attending, and teaching[1].

Full etymology tree

• παιδαγωγία (paidagōgía) (Ancient Greek), 'the act of guiding, attending'
  • derived παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós) (Ancient Greek), 'originally, a slave who accompanied a child to and from school'
    • compound παῖς (paîs) (Ancient Greek), 'child'
    • compound ἀγωγός (agogós) (Ancient Greek), 'leading; guiding'
  • suffix -ία (-ía) (Ancient Greek), 'Added to stems of adjectives, rarely to the stems of verbs, and even more rarely to the stems of nouns, to form feminine abstract nouns'

Descendants and derived words

• pédagogie (French)
• παιδαγωγία (Greek)

Sources

1. παιδαγωγία (paidagōgía) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
2. παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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