Etymograph

English

eau

Eau comes from Old English ēa ‘running water, water, stream, river’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ekʷeh₂1‘water, flowing water’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ahwō1‘waters, river’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ahu2reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ēa1‘running water, water, stream, river’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ea1
  6. Englishtodayeau1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English eau
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English ea

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ekʷeh₂Wiktionary, English eau‘water, flowing water’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ahwōWiktionary, English eau‘waters, river’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ahuWiktionary, Old English eareconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ēaWiktionary, English eau‘running water, water, stream, river’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500eaWiktionary, English eau
  6. EnglishtodayeauWiktionary, English eau

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ ‘water, flowing water’

island, 1 more

through Proto-Germanic *ahwō ‘waters, river’

ait, 1 more

through Old English ēa ‘running water, water, stream, river’

eddy, ea

through Middle English ea

yeo

Another origin of eau

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ekʷeh₂‘water, flowing water’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaqua‘water’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ewe
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600eau
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presenteau‘water, a liquid that is transparent, colorless, odorless, and tasteless in its pure form’
  6. Englishtodayeau

Today it means

noun —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “eau”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English ea. 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 *h₂ekʷeh₂ / eau

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