Etymograph

English

book

Book comes from Old English bōc, from Proto-West Germanic *bōk ‘inscribed billet, letter’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bōks.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōks1‘letter’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bōk1‘inscribed billet, letter’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōc1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bok1‘a document’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611book1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English book
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Knowing I lou'd my bookes, he furniſhd me /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōksWiktionary, English book‘letter’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bōkWiktionary, English book‘inscribed billet, letter’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōcWiktionary, English book
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bokWiktionary, English book‘a document’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611bookWiktionary, English book. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Knowing I lou'd my bookes, he furniſhd me /…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- ‘to divide, distribute, allot’

  • sarcophagus ← σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος ← σαρκός ← ἔφαγον ← *bʰh₂g-
  • bhagat ← ਭਗਤ ← भक्त ← *bʰaktás ← *bʰeh₂g-tó-s
  • bhakti ← भक्ति ← *bʰaktíš
  • bagh ← باغ ← bʾg ← *bāgah ← *bāgáh
  • bhajan ← भजन ← भजन ← भज् ← *bʰag-

3 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of book

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂ǵos‘beech’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōkō‘beech’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōks‘letter, written message’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōkōną‘to book’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōcian‘to give by charter, to charter’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500booken
  7. Englishtodaybook

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Today it means

noun A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “book”. 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 *bōks / book