Etymograph

English

eighty

Eighty may come from Proto-Germanic *sebun ‘seven’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw ‘eight’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*oḱtṓw1‘eight’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sebun1‘seven’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ahtōutēhundą2reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hundeahtatiġ2
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500eightety2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025eighty2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *ahtōutēhundą
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English eighty
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Peter Charalambous, Penguin Random House”: “Merryday, who was appointed by President Geroge^([sic]) H. W.…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*oḱtṓwWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *ahtōutēhundą‘eight’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sebunWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *ahtōutēhundą‘seven’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ahtōutēhundąWiktionary, English eightyreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hundeahtatiġWiktionary, English eighty
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500eightetyWiktionary, English eighty
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025eightyWiktionary, English eighty. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Peter Charalambous, Penguin Random House”: “Merryday, who was appointed by President Geroge^([sic]) H. W.…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw ‘eight’

octave, octavo, aught, 18 more

through Proto-Germanic *sebun ‘seven’

seven, 1 more

Today it means

num The cardinal number occurring after seventy-nine and before eighty-one, represented in Roman numerals as LXXX and in Arabic numerals as 80.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “eighty”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *ahtōutēhundą. 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 *oḱtṓw / eighty

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