Etymograph

English

dye

Dye comes from Old English dēah ‘color, hue, dye’, from Proto-West Germanic *daugan ‘to conceal, be dark’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- ‘to smoke, raise dust, camouflage’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-1‘to smoke, raise dust, camouflage’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*daugan1‘to conceal, be dark’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*daugu1‘color, shade’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dēah1‘color, hue, dye’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deye1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2026dye1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dye
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2026, Katherine Augustine, Dyeing in the Baking Aisle: “While the yarn is soaking in its water and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-Wiktionary, English dye‘to smoke, raise dust, camouflage’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dauganWiktionary, English dye‘to conceal, be dark’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dauguWiktionary, English dye‘color, shade’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dēahWiktionary, English dye‘color, hue, dye’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deyeWiktionary, English dye
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2026dyeWiktionary, English dye. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2026, Katherine Augustine, Dyeing in the Baking Aisle: “While the yarn is soaking in its water and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- ‘to smoke, raise dust, camouflage’

down, steam, funk, dew, dun, dune, duvet, dag, fume, thymus, obfuscate, fumigation, typhon, 27 more

through Middle English deye

dey

Another origin of dye

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150dēagian‘to dye’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deien
  3. Englishtodaydye

Today it means

noun A colorant, especially one that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is applied.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dye”. 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 *dʰewh₂- / dye

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