English
congeal
Congeal comes from Latin congelō ‘to freeze together, congeal’, from gelū ‘cold, chill’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gel-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-1‘to be cold, to freeze’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgelū1‘cold, chill’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgelō1‘to freeze, cause to congeal’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcongelō1‘to freeze together, congeal’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600congeler1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500congelen1‘to congeal, solidify, harden’
- Englishtodaycongeal1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English congeal
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-Wiktionary, English congeal‘to be cold, to freeze’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgelūWiktionary, English congeal‘cold, chill’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgelōWiktionary, English congeal‘to freeze, cause to congeal’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcongelōWiktionary, English congeal‘to freeze together, congeal’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600congelerWiktionary, English congeal
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500congelenWiktionary, English congeal‘to congeal, solidify, harden’
- EnglishtodaycongealWiktionary, English congeal
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to be cold, to freeze’
children, child, cold, clean, cloud, globe, chill, cluster, colt, clout, clot, clough, glebe, clod, globus, ganglion, klutz, globulin, 47 more
through Latin gelū ‘cold, chill’
through Latin gelō ‘to freeze, cause to congeal’
Today it means
verb To change from a liquid to solid state, perhaps due to cold; called to freeze in nontechnical usage.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “congeal”. 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 *gel- / congeal