Etymograph

English

choose

Choose comes from Middle English chesen ‘to choose’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- ‘to taste, try’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵews-1‘to taste’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵéwseti1‘to choose’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*keusaną1‘to test’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*keusan1‘to choose’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċēosan1‘to choose’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chesen1‘to choose’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1739choose1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English choose
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1739, David Hume, Of the Influencing Motives of the Will: “Secondly, VVhen in exerting any paſſion in action, vve…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵews-Wiktionary, English choose‘to taste’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵéwsetiWiktionary, English choose‘to choose’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*keusanąWiktionary, English choose‘to test’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*keusanWiktionary, English choose‘to choose’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċēosanWiktionary, English choose‘to choose’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chesenWiktionary, English choose‘to choose’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1739chooseWiktionary, English choose. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1739, David Hume, Of the Influencing Motives of the Will: “Secondly, VVhen in exerting any paſſion in action, vve…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- ‘to taste, try’

  • cost ← kostr ← *kustuz ← *ǵéwstus
  • choice ← chois ← chois ← *causīre ← 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽
  • disgust ← desgouster ← desgouster ← goster ← gustus
  • gust ← gustus ← *gustus ← *ǵéwstus

through Old English ċēosan ‘to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve’

17 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To pick; to make the choice of; to select.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “choose”. 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 *ǵews- / choose