Etymograph

English

bush

Bush comes from Middle English bush ‘bush, shrub’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *buskaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*buskaz1‘bush’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*busk1‘bush’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*busċ1reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bush1‘bush’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600bush1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bush
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “If it be true, that good wine needs no…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*buskazWiktionary, English bush‘bush’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*buskWiktionary, English bush‘bush’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*busċWiktionary, English bushreconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bushWiktionary, English bush‘bush’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600bushWiktionary, English bush. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “If it be true, that good wine needs no…”

The story

From Middle English bush, from Old English *busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (‘bush, thicket’), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (‘to grow’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to grow’

  • be ← been ← bēon ← *beun ← *beuną
  • been ← ġebēon ← bēon ← *beun ← *beuną
  • power ← poer ← pooir ← potēre ← posse
  • possible ← possibilis ← possum ← *possom ← *som
  • future ← futur ← futūrus ← sum
  • present ← presenten ← presenter ← praesentō ← praesens
  • physical ← physicālis ← physica ← φυσική ← φυσικός
  • improve ← improbō ← probō ← *proβāō ← *proβos
  • presence ← praesentia ← praesēns ← praesum ← sum
  • build ← bilden ← byldan ← *buþlijan ← *buþlą
  • essential ← essentiālis ← essentia ← *essēns ← sum
  • bond ← bonde ← bōnda ← bóndi ← būend

125 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of bush

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπῠ́ξος‘boxwood’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπυξίςpuxís‘box’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEbuxis‘box’
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*buhsā‘box, casket’reconstructed
  5. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*bussareconstructed
  6. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500busse‘box’
  7. Englishtodaybush

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Today it means

noun A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bush”. 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 *buskaz / bush