English
drunk
Drunk comes from Middle English drunke, from Old English druncen ‘drunk’, past participle of drincan, from Proto-Germanic *drinkaną ‘to drink’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drinkaną1‘to drink’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drunkanaz1reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150druncen1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drunke1
- Englishearliest quotation 1611drunk1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English drunk
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “I will make mine arrows drunk with blood.”.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drinkanąWiktionary, English drunk‘to drink’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drunkanazWiktionary, English drunkreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150druncenWiktionary, English drunk
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drunkeWiktionary, English drunk
- Englishearliest quotation 1611drunkWiktionary, English drunk. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “I will make mine arrows drunk with blood.”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with drunk, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰrenǵ- ‘to draw into one's mouth, sip, gulp’
- drenching ← drenchyng ← drenċende ← *drankijandz ← *drankijaną
through Proto-Germanic *drinkaną ‘to drink’
11 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “drunk”. 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 *drinkaną / drunk