Etymograph

English

crucify

Crucify comes from Old French crucefier ‘to crucify’, from Latin fīgō ‘to fasten, fix’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to plant’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeygʷ-1‘to plant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feigʷō1‘to fasten’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīvō1‘Old Latin form of fīgō (“to fasten”)’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīgō1‘to fasten, fix’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrucifigō2‘to crucify, fix on a cross’
  6. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcrucificō2
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400crucefier2‘to crucify’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crucifien2‘to crucify’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1896crucify2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin crucifigo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English crucify
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1896, William Jennings Bryan: “Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeygʷ-Wiktionary, Latin crucifigo‘to plant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feigʷōWiktionary, Latin crucifigo‘to fasten’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīvōWiktionary, Latin crucifigo‘Old Latin form of fīgō (“to fasten”)’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīgōWiktionary, Latin crucifigo‘to fasten, fix’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrucifigōWiktionary, English crucify‘to crucify, fix on a cross’
  6. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcrucificōWiktionary, English crucify
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400crucefierWiktionary, English crucify‘to crucify’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crucifienWiktionary, English crucify‘to crucify’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1896crucifyWiktionary, English crucify. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1896, William Jennings Bryan: “Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to plant’

final, fine, finish, definition, dig, infinite, ditch, infinity, finite, fin, dyke, dike, financier, infinitive, fino, finis, finial, 23 more

through Latin fīvō ‘Old Latin form of fīgō (“to fasten”)’

fibula, 9 more

through Latin fīgō ‘to fasten, fix’

fix, suffix, 14 more

Today it means

verb To execute (a person) by nailing to a cross.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “crucify”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin crucifigo. 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- / crucify

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