Etymograph

English

confine

Confine comes from Latin cōnfīnis ‘bordering on, adjoining’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to stick, set up’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeygʷ-1‘to stick, set up’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*fignis1uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīnis2
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfīnis3‘bordering on, adjoining’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconfinium4
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500confines4
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600confiner4
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1599confine4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin finis
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin confinis
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin confinium
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English confine
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.: “Now let not nature's hand / Keep the wild…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeygʷ-Wiktionary, Latin finis‘to stick, set up’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*fignisWiktionary, Latin finisuncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīnisWiktionary, Latin confinis
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfīnisWiktionary, Latin confinium‘bordering on, adjoining’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconfiniumWiktionary, English confine
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500confinesWiktionary, English confine
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600confinerWiktionary, English confine
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1599confineWiktionary, English confine. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.: “Now let not nature's hand / Keep the wild…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to stick, set up’

fix, dig, ditch, dyke, dike, crucify, 20 more

through Latin *fignis

finale, infinitesimal, 11 more

through Latin fīnis

final, finish, definition, infinite, finite, infinity, fin, financier, finesse, infinitive, fino, finis, affine, finial, 14 more

Today it means

verb To have a common boundary with; to border on.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “confine”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin finis, Latin confinis, Latin confinium. 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 *dʰeygʷ- / confine

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