matrix

Where does the word "matrix" come from? It comes from Latin matrix, and was adopted directly into English (1400s).

Matrix’s story begins in Latin: matrix meant “a womb, a source.” Literally a womb, from mater (mother), a place where something originates. It reached English by 1400s as matrix. Broadened from a womb to any structure within which something develops or is embedded. Today, matrix means a rectangular array of numbers, or a structure within which something originates or is embedded.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient matrix "a womb, a source", literally a womb, from mater (mother), a place where something originates.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1400s matrix "an environment in which something develops, or a grid of numbers", broadened from a womb to any structure within which something develops or is embedded.