Geminate
/ˈdʒɛmɪneɪt/noun
To duplicate or form into a pair; in linguistics, to double a consonant sound.
Did you know?Geminate comes from Latin geminatus, the past participle of geminare, meaning “to twin” or “to make double,” from geminus, “twin,” a root that also hides in words like Gemini.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʰem-
“to pair, twin, or duplicate”
Latin
Latin
geminus
“twin; double”
Latin
Latin
geminare
“to double; to make twofold”
Late Latin
Latin
geminatus
“doubled; made into a pair”
14th–16th Century
English
geminate
“to twin or double; later, to double a consonant sound”