Etymograph

English

dizzy

Dizzy comes from Middle English dysy ‘Dizzy, shaky’, from Old English dysiġ ‘stupid, foolish’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes- ‘to breathe, inhale, exhale’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰwes-1‘to breathe, inhale, exhale’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dusīg1‘stunned’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dysiġ1‘stupid, foolish’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dysy1‘Dizzy, shaky’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603dizzy1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dizzy
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “Let me have this violence and compulsion removed, there…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰwes-Wiktionary, English dizzy‘to breathe, inhale, exhale’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dusīgWiktionary, English dizzy‘stunned’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dysiġWiktionary, English dizzy‘stupid, foolish’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dysyWiktionary, English dizzy‘Dizzy, shaky’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603dizzyWiktionary, English dizzy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “Let me have this violence and compulsion removed, there…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes- ‘to breathe, inhale, exhale’

dear, dusk, fuscous, 7 more

through Old English dysiġ ‘stupid, foolish’

dizziness

Today it means

adj Experiencing a sensation of whirling and of being giddy, unbalanced, or lightheaded.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dizzy”. 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 *dʰwes- / dizzy

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