Etymograph

English

blow

Blow comes from Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan ‘to blow, breathe’, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną ‘to blow’, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-1‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-1‘to blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēaną1‘to blow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blāan1‘to blow’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blāwan1‘to blow, breathe’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowen1‘to blow’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597blow1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English blow
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “Rob. Miſtris Ford, Miſtris Ford: heere's Miſtris Page at…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-Wiktionary, English blow‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-Wiktionary, English blow‘to blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēanąWiktionary, English blow‘to blow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blāanWiktionary, English blow‘to blow’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blāwanWiktionary, English blow‘to blow, breathe’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowenWiktionary, English blow‘to blow’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597blowWiktionary, English blow. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “Rob. Miſtris Ford, Miſtris Ford: heere's Miſtris Page at…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to swell, blow up’

inflation, flavor, blast, flux, fluent, bliss, bladder, confluence, fluency, inflate, feeble, flatulence, fluvial, conflate, blithely, blare, blather, bleat, 45 more

Another origin of blow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlēw-‘yellow, blond, grey’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēwaz‘blue, dark blue, grey, black’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blāureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blāw‘blue’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blo‘blueness’
  6. Englishtodayblow

Another origin of blow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mlew-uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mléw-e-uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blewwaną‘to beat’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowe
  5. Englishtodayblow

Another origin of blow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₃-‘bloom, flower’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blōaną‘to bloom, to flower’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150blōwan‘to flower, blossom, bloom’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowen‘to blossom’
  5. Englishtodayblow

Today it means

verb To produce an air current.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “blow”. 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 *bʰel- / blow

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