Etymograph

English

batch

Batch comes from Old English *bæċċ ‘something baked’, from Proto-West Germanic *bakku ‘the act or process of baking’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bakkuz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bakkuz1‘baking, baked goods’uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bakku1‘the act or process of baking’uncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*bæċċ1‘something baked’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bach1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1551batch1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English batch
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1551, T. Wilson: “Except the baker doe his part also in the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bakkuzWiktionary, English batch‘baking, baked goods’uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bakkuWiktionary, English batch‘the act or process of baking’uncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*bæċċWiktionary, English batch‘something baked’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bachWiktionary, English batch
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1551batchWiktionary, English batch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1551, T. Wilson: “Except the baker doe his part also in the…”

The story

Related also to Old English bacan (‘to bake’), Old English ġebæc (‘something baked’), Dutch gebak, German Gebäck, Dutch baksel.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *bakkuz

Another origin of batch

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeg-‘flowing water, brook, stream’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰog-i-sreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bakiz‘brook, stream’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baki‘brook’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bæċ‘brook, stream’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bache
  7. Englishtodaybatch

Today it means

noun The quantity of bread or other baked goods baked at one time.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “batch”. 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 *bakkuz / batch

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