Etymograph

English

bond

Bond comes from Middle English bond, a variant of band, from Old English bend ‘bond, coil’, from Proto-Germanic *bandiz, from PIE *bʰendʰ- ‘to bind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰendʰ-1‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bandiz1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bend1‘bond, coil’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bond1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606bond1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bond
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “I love your majesty / According to my bond,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰendʰ-Wiktionary, English bond‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bandizWiktionary, English bondreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bendWiktionary, English bond‘bond, coil’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bondWiktionary, English bond
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606bondWiktionary, English bond. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “I love your majesty / According to my bond,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- ‘to tie’

band, banner, bend, bundle, bind, tulip, bonnet, bund, funicular, 22 more

Another origin of bond

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bonden‘to put in bonds, take prisoner’
  2. Englishtodaybond

Another origin of bond

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-‘to become, grow, appear’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*būwandz‘dweller’next step skipped: Old English būan
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150būend‘dweller, inhabitant’uncertain
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350bóndi‘husbandman, householder’literally ‘dweller’uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōnda‘husband’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bonde‘peasant, servant, bondman’
  7. Englishtodaybond

Today it means

noun A document constituting evidence of a long-term debt, by which the bond issuer (the borrower) is obliged to pay interest when due, and repay the principal at maturity, as specified on the face of the bond certificate. The rights of the holder are specified in the bond indenture, which contains the legal terms and conditions under which the bond was issued. Bonds are available in two forms: registe

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bond”. 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 *bʰendʰ- / bond

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