Etymograph

English

bear

Bear comes from Middle English bere ‘a bear’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *berô.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*berô1reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*berō1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bera1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bere1‘a bear’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1791bear1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bear, which cites Ringe
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, James Boswell: “One evening about this time, when his Lordship did…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*berôWiktionary, English bear, which cites Ringereconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*berōWiktionary, English bear, which cites Ringereconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150beraWiktionary, English bear, which cites Ringe
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bereWiktionary, English bear, which cites Ringe‘a bear’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1791bearWiktionary, English bear, which cites Ringe. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, James Boswell: “One evening about this time, when his Lordship did…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwer- ‘wild’

  • ferocious ← ferōx ← *ferōks ← *ǵʰweroh₃kʷs
  • treacle ← triacle ← triacle ← tyriaca ← *triaca

through Middle English bere ‘a bear’

11 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of bear

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti‘to be carrying’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*beraną‘to carry, to bear’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*beran‘to carry, to bear’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150beran‘to carry, bear, bring’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beren‘carry, bring forth’
  7. Englishtodaybear

Another origin of bear

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bere‘pillowcase’
  2. Englishtodaybear

From Middle English bere (‘pillowcase’), of obscure origin, but compare Old English hlēorbera (‘cheek-cover’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Possibly cognate to Low German büre, whence German Bühre, which in turn has been compared to French bure.

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Today it means

noun A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous) of the family Ursidae; having shaggy fur, a very small tail, and flat feet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bear”. 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 *berô / bear