Etymograph

English

block

Block comes from Middle English blok ‘log, stump, solid piece’, from Middle Dutch blok ‘treetrunk’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- ‘thick plank, beam, pile, prop’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-1‘thick plank’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blukką1‘beam’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blokk1‘block’reconstructed
  4. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*blok1‘log’reconstructed
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500blok1‘treetrunk’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bloc1‘log’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blok1‘log’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591block1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English block
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “What a block art thou!”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-Wiktionary, English block‘thick plank’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blukkąWiktionary, English block‘beam’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blokkWiktionary, English block‘block’reconstructed
  4. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*blokWiktionary, English block‘log’reconstructed
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500blokWiktionary, English block‘treetrunk’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400blocWiktionary, English block‘log’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blokWiktionary, English block‘log’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591blockWiktionary, English block. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “What a block art thou!”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- ‘thick plank, beam, pile, prop’

bulk, balcony, plank, phalanx, fulcrum, balk, phalanges, 15 more

Today it means

noun A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “block”. 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 *bʰelǵ- / block

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