Etymograph

English

chain

Chain comes from Middle English cheyne, from Old French chaeine, from Latin catēna ‘chain’, of unknown further origin.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*katesnā1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcatēna1‘chain’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400chaeine1‘chain’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cheyne1‘a chain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588chain1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English chain
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*katesnāWiktionary, English chainreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcatēnaWiktionary, English chain‘chain’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400chaeineWiktionary, English chain‘chain’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cheyneWiktionary, English chain‘a chain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588chainWiktionary, English chain. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *kat- ‘to braid, twist’

through Latin catēna

15 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “chain”. 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-Italic *katesnā / chain