Etymograph

English

abed

Abed comes from Old English on ‘in’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *ana.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ana1reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ana1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150on2‘in’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500abedde2
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1564–1616abed2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English on
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English abed
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night: “Not to be abed after midnight”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*anaWiktionary, Old English onreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*anaWiktionary, Old English onreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150onWiktionary, English abed‘in’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500abeddeWiktionary, English abed
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1564–1616abedWiktionary, English abed. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night: “Not to be abed after midnight”

Formed from a- ‘in, on’ + bed

Proto-Indo-European *uds- ‘up, out’

Proto-Germanic *uz- ‘out-’

Proto-West Germanic *uʀ- ‘up, out, over’

English a-

Proto-Germanic *badją ‘resting-place’

Proto-West Germanic *badi ‘plot of ground’

Old English bedd

Middle English bed ‘a bed’

English bed

Linked words

through Old English on ‘in’

on, upon, 2 more

Today it means

adv In bed, or on the bed; confined to bed.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “abed”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English on. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *ana / abed

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