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Webster 1913 Edition

Tectonic

Tec-ton′ic

,
Adj.
[L.
tectonicus
, Gr. [GREEK], fr. [GREEK], [GREEK], a carpenter, builder.]
1.
Of or pertaining to building or construction; architectural.

Definition 2024

tectonic

tectonic

See also: tectònic

English

Adjective

tectonic ‎(not comparable)

  1. of or relating to construction or to architecture
  2. (biology) structural
  3. (geology) of, relating to, or caused by large-scale movements of the Earth's lithosphere

Related terms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ “tectonic” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Etymology

1650s, in sense of building, from Late Latin tectonicus, from Ancient Greek τεκτονικός ‎(tektonikós, “pertaining to building”), from Ancient Greek τέκτων ‎(téktōn, “carpenter, joiner, maker”), from Proto-Indo-European *tek- ‎(“to make”) (from which also texture). In sense of geology, attested 1894.[1] Surface analysis is τέκτων ‎(téktōn) +‎ -ic ‎(“pertaining to”).

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