Etymograph

English

dark

Dark comes from Middle English derk, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *derk.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*derk1reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150deorc1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500derk1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596dark1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dark
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*derkWiktionary, English darkreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150deorcWiktionary, English dark
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500derkWiktionary, English dark
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596darkWiktionary, English dark. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- ‘dull, dirty’

  • drug ← drogge ← drogue ← droge ← *drōgi
  • firm ← firma ← firmare ← firmo ← firmus
  • dry ← drye ← drȳġe ← *drūgī ← *drūgiz
  • drama ← δρᾶμα ← δράω ← darýti ← *dʰor-éyeti
  • throne ← trone ← trone ← thronus ← θρόνος
  • drain ← *dreinen ← drēahnian ← *drauhnōn ← *drauhnōną
  • drone ← drounen ← *drunnjan ← *drunjaną
  • feasible ← fesable ← facere ← fere ← *feros
  • drastic ← δραστικός ← δρᾶσις ← δράω ← darýti
  • refrain ← refreynen ← refrener ← refrēnāre ← frēnāre
  • dare ← durren ← durran ← *durʀan ← *durzaną
  • formidable ← formīdābilis ← formīdō

47 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of dark

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150*dierceuncertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500derk
  3. Englishtodaydark

From Middle English derk, derke, dirke, dyrke, from the adjective (see above), or possibly from an unrecorded Old English *dierce, *diercu (‘dark, darkness’).

Another origin of dark

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰerg-uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰerg-o-suncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*derkazuncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*derk‘dirty, dark’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*derkōn‘to darken, become dark, grow dim’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150deorcian‘to darken, grow dark’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500derken
  8. Englishtodaydark

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Today it means

adj Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dark”. 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-West Germanic *derk / dark