English
end
End comes from Old English ende ‘end’, from Proto-Germanic *andijaz ‘end’, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂entíos ‘forehead, front’, and ultimately from *h₂ent- ‘face, front’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ent-1‘face, forehead, front’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂entíos1‘forehead; front’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*andijaz1‘end’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*andī1‘end’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ende1‘end’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ende1‘end’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1593end1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English end
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “Confound your hidden falsehood, and award / Either of…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ent-Wiktionary, English end‘face, forehead, front’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂entíosWiktionary, English end‘forehead; front’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*andijazWiktionary, English end‘end’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*andīWiktionary, English end‘end’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150endeWiktionary, English end‘end’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500endeWiktionary, English end‘end’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1593endWiktionary, English end. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “Confound your hidden falsehood, and award / Either of…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with end, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- ‘on, onto’
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- ‘face’
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂entíos ‘forehead’
- endlessly ← endelesly ← endelēaslīċe ← endelēas ← *andijalausaz
27 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun The terminal point of something in space or time.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “end”. 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.