English
behavior
Behavior comes from Middle English behavoure, from behaven ‘to behave’, from Old English behabban ‘to contain’, with the suffix modelled on havour.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bihabbjan1reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150behabban1‘to hold, contain’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500behaven1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500behavoure1
- Englishearliest quotation 2014behavior1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English behavior
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2014, A teacher, Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents: “Teachers will probably be on their best behaviour for…”.
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bihabbjanWiktionary, English behaviorreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150behabbanWiktionary, English behavior‘to hold, contain’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500behavenWiktionary, English behavior
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500behavoureWiktionary, English behavior
- Englishearliest quotation 2014behaviorWiktionary, English behavior. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2014, A teacher, Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents: “Teachers will probably be on their best behaviour for…”
The story
The suffix was adopted in imitation of havour (modern haviour, havior), an etymologically unrelated word that was corrupted from Anglo‐Norman Anglo-Norman aveir and Old French Old French avoir (‘property, wealth’) through false association with the native English verb have. The French term derives ultimately from Latin Latin habēre (‘to have, hold’). Replaced Old English ġebǣru.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with behavior, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *kap-
- had ← hadde ← hæfde ← *habdaz ← *habjaną
- case ← casse ← capsa ← *kapsos ← *kapjō
- head ← efd ← hēafod ← *haubud ← *haubudą
- except ← excepter ← exceptus ← excipiō
- capital ← capitale ← capitulum ← caput ← *kaput
- cash ← caisse ← caissa ← capsa ← capiō
- captain ← capitain ← capitaine ← capitāneus ← caput
- catch ← cacchen ← cachier
- accept ← accepten ← accepter ← acceptō ← capiō
- receive ← receyven ← receivre ← recipere ← capiō
- heavy ← hevy ← hefiġ ← *habīg ← *habīgaz
- capacity ← capacite ← capacite ← capācitās
204 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun Human conduct relative to social norms.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “behavior”. 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-West Germanic *bihabbjan / behavior