Calorie
/ˈkæl.ə.ri/noun
A unit used to measure energy in food and heat.
Did you know?Calorie was coined in 1824 from French calorique, ultimately from Latin calor meaning “heat,” because early scientists treated heat like a measurable substance before modern thermodynamics.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kel-
“to be warm, to heat”
Latin
Latin
calor
“heat”
French
French
calorie
“a unit of heat”
1830s
English
calorie
“a unit for measuring heat”
Modern English
English
calorie
“a unit of energy in food and nutrition”