Etymograph

English

balcon

Balcon comes from French balcon ‘balcony’, from Proto-Germanic *balkô ‘beam, balk’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-1‘beam, plank’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balkô2‘beam, balk’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*balkō2reconstructed
  4. Medieval Latinmodernbalcō2
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentbalcone2‘balcony’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentbalcon3‘balcony’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1665balcon3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *balkô, which cites Kroonen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French balcon
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English balcon
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1665, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys: “That done, we walked to Cornehill, and there at…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *balkô, which cites Kroonen‘beam, plank’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balkôWiktionary, French balcon‘beam, balk’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*balkōWiktionary, French balconreconstructed
  4. Medieval LatinmodernbalcōWiktionary, French balcon
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentbalconeWiktionary, French balcon‘balcony’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentbalconWiktionary, English balcon‘balcony’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1665balconWiktionary, English balcon. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1665, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys: “That done, we walked to Cornehill, and there at…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- ‘beam, plank’

block, bulk, plank, phalanx, fulcrum, phalanges, 15 more

through Proto-Germanic *balkô ‘beam, balk’

balk, 3 more

Today it means

noun —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “balcon”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *balkô, French balcon. 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 *bʰelǵ- / balcon

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