*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of hylic

From Medieval Latin hylicus, from Ancient Greek ὑλικός (hulikós, “wooden, material”), from ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē, “wood, matter”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic, forming adjectives”). As a noun, a clipped calque of homo hylicus (“hylic man

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In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A base man, a person of merely physical concerns without mindfulness of either intellectual or spiritual matters.

adj

Synonym of physical, material, or base.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Medieval Latin hylicus, from Ancient Greek ὑλικός (hulikós, “wooden, material”), from ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē, “wood, matter”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic, forming adjectives”). As a noun, a clipped calque of homo hylicus (“hylic man”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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    {
      "name": "bor",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ML.",
        "3": "hylicus"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin hylicus"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "ὑλικός",
        "4": "",
        "5": "wooden, material"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek ὑλικός (hulikós, “wooden, material”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "hylicus",
      "hylicus#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "ὑλικός",
      "ὑλικός#Ancient_Greek"
    ],
    [
      "wooden",
      "wooden"
    ],
    [
      "material",
      "material"
    ],
    [
      "ῡ̔́λη",
      "ὕλη#Ancient_Greek"
    ],
    [
      "wood",
      "wood"
    ],
    [
      "matter",
      "matter"
    ],
    [
      "-ικός",
      "-ικός#Ancient_Greek"
    ],
    [
      "-ic",
      "-ic"
    ],
    [
      "form",
      "form"
    ],
    [
      "adjective",
      "adjective"
    ],
    [
      "homo",
      "homo#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "hylicus",
      "hylicus#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "man",
      "man"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A base man, a person of merely physical concerns without mindfulness of either intellectual or spiritual matters."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 360757
    },
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of physical, material, or base."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "recordId": "7d27826ce9f7ffc0445d89154641a2afee650e8f104788426c889c05f69bfa95",
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 360756
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  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for hylic →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-aHlsaWM