Etymograph

English

change

Change comes from Old French changier ‘to change’, from Late Latin cambiō ‘to exchange, barter’, from cambium ‘exchange’, from Gaulish cambion, and ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kambos ‘twisted, crooked’.

  1. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*kambos1‘twisted, crooked, bent’reconstructed
  2. Gaulishc. 500 BCE–500 CEcambion1‘bent, crooked; deformation’yo-stem derivative of *kambos
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcambium2‘exchange’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcambiō3as cambīre‘to exchange, barter’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400changier3‘to change’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500changen3
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590change3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cambium
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin cambio
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English change
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto I: “Lo I the man, whoſe Muſe whilome did maske,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*kambosWiktionary, Latin cambium‘twisted, crooked, bent’reconstructed
  2. Gaulishc. 500 BCE–500 CEcambionWiktionary, Latin cambium‘bent, crooked; deformation’yo-stem derivative of *kambos
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcambiumWiktionary, Latin cambio‘exchange’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcambiōWiktionary, English changeas cambīre‘to exchange, barter’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400changierWiktionary, English change‘to change’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500changenWiktionary, English change
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590changeWiktionary, English change. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto I: “Lo I the man, whoſe Muſe whilome did maske,…”

The story

From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre (‘to exchange, barter’), derived from the noun cambium (‘change’) (whence was loaned the English doublet cambium), from Gaulish cambion, earlier *kambyom (‘change’), related to Proto-Celtic *kambos (‘twisted, crooked’), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂(e)mbos, *(s)kh₂(e)mbos (‘crooked’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Celtic *kambos ‘twisted, crooked’

kam, 11 more

through Latin cambio ‘to exchange, barter’

unchangeable, 4 more

Today it means

verb To become something different.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “change”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin cambium, Latin cambio. 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-Celtic *kambos / change

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