Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Metro
/ˈmɛtroʊ/noun
An underground urban railway.
The Greek roots
μήτηρ
mḗtēr
mother
πόλις
pólis
city
Literally: “mother city”
The story of the word
Paris opened the Chemin de Fer Métropolitain in 1900 and commuters shortened it within a few years; dozens of cities then borrowed the clipping. In Greek a μητρόπολις was the parent city that sent out settlers, and its colonies kept ritual ties and fetched fire from its hearth. English metropolitan first meant a bishop with authority over other bishops, which is the same structure applied to churches.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 1904
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
metropolismetropolitancosmopolitanpolitics
In a sentence
Take the metro two stops and come up on the north side of the square.