English
aks
Aks comes from Old English āscian ‘ask’, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn ‘to claim’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- ‘to request’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eys-1‘to request’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂isḱéti1‘to be seeking, searching’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aiskaz1reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aisk2‘claim’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aiskōn3‘to claim’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150āscian4as acsian‘ask’
- Englishearliest quotation 1865aks4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *aisk
- 2 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn
- 3 Wiktionary, Old English ascian
- 4 Wiktionary, English aks
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1865, William Stott Banks, A List of Provincial Words in Use at Wakefield in Yorkshire: “AKS, ask.”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eys-Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *aisk‘to request’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂isḱétiWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *aisk‘to be seeking, searching’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aiskazWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *aiskreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aiskWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn‘claim’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aiskōnWiktionary, Old English ascian‘to claim’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150āscianWiktionary, English aksas acsian‘ask’
- Englishearliest quotation 1865aksWiktionary, English aks. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1865, William Stott Banks, A List of Provincial Words in Use at Wakefield in Yorkshire: “AKS, ask.”
Linked words
through Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn ‘to claim’
through Old English āscian ‘ask’
Today it means
verb To ask.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “aks”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-West Germanic *aisk, Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn, Old English ascian. 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.