Etymograph

English

burn

Burn comes from Old Norse brinna ‘to burn’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- ‘to boil’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrewh₁-1‘to boil’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrenw-1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brinnaną1‘to burn’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350brinna1‘to burn’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500burne1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1523burn1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English burn
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1523, Johan Froyssart [i.e.: “They haue ſlayne my baylye⸝ and diſtroyed the houſes…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrewh₁-Wiktionary, English burn‘to boil’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrenw-Wiktionary, English burnreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brinnanąWiktionary, English burn‘to burn’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350brinnaWiktionary, English burn‘to burn’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500burneWiktionary, English burn
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1523burnWiktionary, English burn. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1523, Johan Froyssart [i.e.: “They haue ſlayne my baylye⸝ and diſtroyed the houſes…”

The story

As this metathetic form became the Chancery Standard, it displaced the semantic functions and weak conjugation paradigm of the native Old English bærnan (weak), alongside the surviving remnants of byrnan (strong).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- ‘to boil’

bread, purple, brew, broth, bourbon, brim, fervor, fervent, ferment, bourne, effervescent, broil, porphyry, brandish, purpura, 39 more

through Proto-Germanic *brinnaną ‘to burn’

brand, brunt, bren, briny, 3 more

Another origin of burn

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrewh₁-‘to boil, brew’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰréh₁wr̥‘a bubbling forth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brunnô‘source’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150burne‘spring, fountain’
  5. Northern Middle Englishmodernburn
  6. Englishtodayburn

Today it means

noun A physical injury caused by heat, cold, electricity, radiation or caustic chemicals.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “burn”. 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 *bʰrewh₁- / burn

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