Etymograph

English

ban

Ban comes from Old English bannan ‘to summon, proclaim’, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to speak’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-1‘to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₂-new-ti ~ bʰh₂-n̥w-énti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bannaną1‘to proclaim’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bannan1‘to proclaim’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bannan1‘to summon, command, proclaim’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bannen1‘to summon’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1555ban1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English ban
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1555, Hugh Latimer: “They will curse and ban[…]even into the deep pit…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-Wiktionary, English ban‘to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₂-new-ti ~ bʰh₂-n̥w-éntiWiktionary, English banreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bannanąWiktionary, English ban‘to proclaim’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bannanWiktionary, English ban‘to proclaim’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bannanWiktionary, English ban‘to summon, command, proclaim’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bannenWiktionary, English ban‘to summon’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1555banWiktionary, English ban. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1555, Hugh Latimer: “They will curse and ban[…]even into the deep pit…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to say’

  • phone ← telephone ← téléphone ← φωνή ← *pʰōnā́
  • focus
  • professor ← proffessur ← profiteor ← fateor ← *fatēōr
  • famous ← fāmōsus ← fāma ← *fāmā ← *bʰéh₂meh₂
  • fuel ← fuayle ← fouaille ← focus
  • ben ← *bōni ← *bōniz
  • phase ← phasis ← φάσις ← φᾰ(ν)- ← *pʰáňňō
  • favor ← favour ← favour ← faveō ← *bʰeh₂weh₁yeti
  • favourite ← favorit ← favorit ← favorire ← favore
  • fate ← fāta ← fātus ← *fātos ← *bʰh₂-tó-s
  • fame ← fāma ← *fāmā ← *bʰéh₂meh₂
  • photographer ← φωτός ← φῶς ← φᾰ́ος ← *pʰáwos

159 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of ban

  1. Serbo-Croatianmodernbânuncertain
  2. Romanianc. 1500–presentban‘money’
  3. Englishtodayban

Borrowed from Romanian ban of uncertain origin, perhaps from Serbo-Croatian bân.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

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Today it means

verb To prohibit; to interdict; to proscribe; to forbid or block from participation.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ban”. 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 *bʰeh₂- / ban