Etymograph

English

climb

Climb comes from Old English climban ‘to climb’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *klimbaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klimbaną1‘to climb, go up by clinging’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klimban1‘to climb’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150climban1‘to climb’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500climben1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1697climb1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English climb
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1697, Virgil, The Seventh Book of the Æneis: “Black vapours climb aloft, and cloud the day.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klimbanąWiktionary, English climb‘to climb, go up by clinging’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klimbanWiktionary, English climb‘to climb’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150climbanWiktionary, English climb‘to climb’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500climbenWiktionary, English climb
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1697climbWiktionary, English climb. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1697, Virgil, The Seventh Book of the Æneis: “Black vapours climb aloft, and cloud the day.”

The story

From Middle English climben, clymben, from Old English climban (‘to climb’), from Proto-West Germanic *klimban, from Proto-Germanic *klimbaną (‘to climb, go up by clinging’), believed to be a nasalised variant of Proto-Germanic *klibaną, *klibāną (‘to stick, cleave’), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (‘to stick’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gley- ‘to stick’

clad, clam, clothe, clench, glia, 5 more

Today it means

verb To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “climb”. 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 *klimbaną / climb

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