English
ball
Ball comes from Middle English bal ‘a ball’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to blow, inflate, swell’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-1‘to blow’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balluz1‘round object’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*beall1reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bal1‘a ball’
- Englishearliest quotation 1659ball1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English ball
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1659, Arthur Annesley, England’s Confusion: “[…] the Good Old Cause, which, as they seemed…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-Wiktionary, English ball‘to blow’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balluzWiktionary, English ball‘round object’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*beallWiktionary, English ballreconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500balWiktionary, English ball‘a ball’
- Englishearliest quotation 1659ballWiktionary, English ball. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1659, Arthur Annesley, England’s Confusion: “[…] the Good Old Cause, which, as they seemed…”
The story
Related forms in Romance are borrowings from Germanic.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to blow, inflate, swell’
bowl, bold, bell, flame, bull, boil, blaze, blush, blur, blizzard, bleach, bolster, budge, bald, bale, 82 more
through Old English *beall
Another origin of ball
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-‘to throw’uncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEballō‘to dance’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400baller
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600baler‘to dance’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600bal
- Englishtodayball
Today it means
noun A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “ball”. 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 *bʰel- / ball