Etymograph

English

back

Back comes from Middle English bak ‘the back, hind, or rear of a being's body’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *baką.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baką1‘back’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bak1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bæc1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bak1‘the back’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597back1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English back
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “I will back him [a horse] straight.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bakąWiktionary, English back‘back’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bakWiktionary, English backreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bæcWiktionary, English back
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bakWiktionary, English back‘the back’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597backWiktionary, English back. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “I will back him [a horse] straight.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- ‘to bend’

bank, bitch, beach, bench, petite, banquet, petit, banco, bicker, banque, bichon, 7 more

through Proto-Germanic *baką ‘back, rear’

baker, baxter

through Old English bæc

batch, beached

Another origin of back

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentbac
  2. Englishtodayback

Today it means

adj At or near the rear.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “back”. 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 *baką / back

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