Etymograph

English

door

Door comes from Middle English dore ‘a door or gate’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *durz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*durz1‘door’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dur1‘door’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150duru1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dore1‘a door or gate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1918door1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English door
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1918, William Babington Maxwell, Indianapolis: “Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*durzWiktionary, English door‘door’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*durWiktionary, English door‘door’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150duruWiktionary, English door
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500doreWiktionary, English door‘a door or gate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1918doorWiktionary, English door. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1918, William Babington Maxwell, Indianapolis: “Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- ‘doorway, door, gate’

foreign, thyroid, 6 more

Today it means

noun A portal of entry into a building, room, or vehicle, typically consisting of a rigid plane movable on a hinge. It may have a handle to help open and close, a latch to hold it closed, and a lock that ensures it cannot be opened without a key.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “door”. 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-Germanic *durz / door

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