Etymograph

English

bath

Bath comes from Middle English bath ‘a medicinal or curative bath’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- ‘to warm’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₁-1‘to warm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baþą1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baþ1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bæþ1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bath1‘a medicinal or curative bath’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1815bath1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bath
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, anonymous author, The Observant Pedestrian Mounted: ““Oh, dear no, not me; I never bath, ’tis…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₁-Wiktionary, English bath‘to warm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baþąWiktionary, English bathreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baþWiktionary, English bathreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bæþWiktionary, English bath
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bathWiktionary, English bath‘a medicinal or curative bath’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1815bathWiktionary, English bath. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, anonymous author, The Observant Pedestrian Mounted: ““Oh, dear no, not me; I never bath, ’tis…”

The story

Corresponding inherited verbs are beath and bathe.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- ‘to warm’

  • bed ← bedd ← *badi ← *badją ← *bʰodʰ-yó-m

4 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of bath

  1. Hebrew1880s–presentבַּתbaṯ
  2. Englishtodaybath

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Today it means

noun A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bath”. 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 *bʰeh₁- / bath