Etymograph

English

drive

Drive comes from Middle English driven ‘to drive’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰreybʰ-1‘to drive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drībaną1‘to drive’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*drīban1‘to drive’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150drīfan1‘to drive’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500driven1‘to drive’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1580drive1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English drive
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1580, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., (please specify the folio): “He driuen to dismount, threatned, if I did not…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰreybʰ-Wiktionary, English drive‘to drive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drībanąWiktionary, English drive‘to drive’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*drībanWiktionary, English drive‘to drive’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150drīfanWiktionary, English drive‘to drive’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drivenWiktionary, English drive‘to drive’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1580driveWiktionary, English drive. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1580, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., (please specify the folio): “He driuen to dismount, threatned, if I did not…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- ‘to drive, push’

through Proto-Germanic *drībaną ‘to drive’

  • driving ← dryvyng ← drīfende ← *drībandz

through Old English drīfan ‘to drive, force, move’

  • drove ← drave ← drāf

8 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To operate a vehicle: To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “drive”. 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 *dʰreybʰ- / drive