Etymograph

English

bake

Bake comes from Middle English baken ‘to bake’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₃g-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₃g-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bakaną1‘to bake’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bakan1‘to bake’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bacan1‘to bake’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500baken1‘to bake’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596bake1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bake
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto VII: “They bake their sides vppon the cold, hard stone.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₃g-Wiktionary, English bakereconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bakanąWiktionary, English bake‘to bake’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bakanWiktionary, English bake‘to bake’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bacanWiktionary, English bake‘to bake’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bakenWiktionary, English bake‘to bake’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596bakeWiktionary, English bake. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto VII: “They bake their sides vppon the cold, hard stone.”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *bakaną ‘to bake’

book, 4 more

through Middle English baken ‘to bake’

baking, 1 more

Today it means

verb To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bake”. 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 *bʰh₃g- / bake

Shirt and support for this word