Etymograph

English

dreich

Dreich comes from Scots dreich ‘hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome’, from Middle English dregh ‘a frustration or difficulty’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- ‘to deceive’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰrewgʰ-1‘to deceive’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*drēog1‘earnest’reconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dregh1‘a frustration or difficulty’
  4. Scotsc. 1450–presentdreich1‘hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1786dreich1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dreich
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1786, Robert Burns, Maggie: “VVhen thou an' I vvere young an' ſkiegh, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰrewgʰ-Wiktionary, English dreich‘to deceive’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*drēogWiktionary, English dreich‘earnest’reconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dreghWiktionary, English dreich‘a frustration or difficulty’
  4. Scotsc. 1450–presentdreichWiktionary, English dreich‘hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1786dreichWiktionary, English dreich. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1786, Robert Burns, Maggie: “VVhen thou an' I vvere young an' ſkiegh, /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- ‘to deceive’

drug, dream, fraud, drain, drudge, truculent, 16 more

Today it means

adj Extending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome; long-drawn-out, protracted; also, of speech or writing: unnecessarily verbose; long-winded.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dreich”. 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 *dʰrewgʰ- / dreich

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