Etymograph

English

draught

Draught comes from Old English dreċċan ‘to annoy, trouble’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰregʰ-1‘to run, to drag, to pull’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drakjaną2reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dreċċan1as *dreaht‘to annoy, trouble’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500draught1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1526draught1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English draught
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English dreccan
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “[…]he sayde vnto Simon: Cary vs into the depe,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰregʰ-Wiktionary, English draught‘to run, to drag, to pull’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drakjanąWiktionary, Old English dreccanreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dreċċanWiktionary, English draughtas *dreaht‘to annoy, trouble’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500draughtWiktionary, English draught
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1526draughtWiktionary, English draught. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “[…]he sayde vnto Simon: Cary vs into the depe,…”

Formed from draw + -t

Proto-Germanic *draganą ‘to carry’

Proto-West Germanic *dragan ‘to carry’

Old English dragan ‘to drag’

Middle English dragen ‘to drag’

English draw

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’

train, attractive, draw, retreat, portrait, attraction, drag, extraction, distraction, tract, entreat, 53 more

through Middle English draught

draft

Today it means

noun A checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “draught”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English dreccan. 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 *dʰregʰ- / draught

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