Etymograph

English

about

About comes from Middle English aboute ‘around’, from Old English onbūtan ‘about, around’ (on + būtan ‘outside’), from Proto-West Germanic *andabiūtan, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *úd ‘out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*úd1‘upwards’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ūt1‘out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ūtō1reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ūtan1reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*biūtan1‘outside’reconstructed
  6. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*andabiūtan1reconstructed
  7. Old Englishc. 450–1150onbūtan1‘about, around’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500aboute1‘around’
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591about1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English about
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “Therefore I know she is about my height.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*údWiktionary, English about‘upwards’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ūtWiktionary, English about‘out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ūtōWiktionary, English aboutreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ūtanWiktionary, English aboutreconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*biūtanWiktionary, English about‘outside’reconstructed
  6. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*andabiūtanWiktionary, English aboutreconstructed
  7. Old Englishc. 450–1150onbūtanWiktionary, English about‘about, around’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500abouteWiktionary, English about‘around’
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591aboutWiktionary, English about. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “Therefore I know she is about my height.”

The story

Preposition and adverb from Middle English aboute, abouten, from Old English abūtan, onbūtan, from on (‘in, on’) + būtan (‘outside of’) (compare modern English but, bout), itself from be (‘by’) + ūtan (‘outside’); equivalent to on + be + out or on + but. Not related to bout (‘period of time’)

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *úd ‘upwards, away, out, outward’

awaken, amaze, uterus, hubris, uterine, aghast, outwardly, outwards, hysteresis, 6 more

through Proto-Germanic *ūt ‘out, outward’

out, utter, outward, 2 more

through Old English būtan ‘outside of’

but

Today it means

prep In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “about”. 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-Indo-European *úd / about

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