Etymograph

English

angle

Angle comes from Middle English angle, from Middle French angle, from Latin angulus ‘corner’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEangulus1‘corner’
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600angle1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500angle1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1717angle1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English angle
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1717, John Dryden et al., (please specify |book=I to XV): “though but an angle reached him of the stone”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEangulusWiktionary, English angle‘corner’
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600angleWiktionary, English angle
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500angleWiktionary, English angle
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1717angleWiktionary, English angle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1717, John Dryden et al., (please specify |book=I to XV): “though but an angle reached him of the stone”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with angle, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eng- ‘curve, bend’

  • ankle ← ankel ← ancol ← *ankul ← *ankulaz

through Latin angulus ‘an angle’

14 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of angle

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eng-‘curve, bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂engulosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*angulosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEangulus‘an angle’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600angle
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500angle
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500anglen‘to meet at an angle, converge’
  8. Englishtodayangle

Another origin of angle

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enk-‘to make crooked, bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*angulaz‘hook’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*angulreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150angol‘fishhook’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500angel‘fishhook’
  6. Englishtodayangle

Another origin of angle

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enk-‘curve, bend’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*angulaz‘hook’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*anguluncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*anglōn‘to hook’uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*anglian‘to hook’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500anglen‘to fish, fish with a hook’literally ‘to fish-hook’
  7. Englishtodayangle

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Today it means

noun A figure formed by two rays which start from a common point (a plane angle) or by three planes that intersect (a solid angle).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “angle”. 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 / Latin angulus / angle