Etymograph

English

erratic

Erratic comes from Classical Latin errāticus ‘wandering, roving’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- ‘to flow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁ers-1‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁ers-eh₂-yé-ti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*erzāō1‘to roam, wander’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEerrō1‘to wander, rove, stray, roam’
  5. Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEerrāticus1‘wandering, roving’next step skipped: Old French erratique
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400erratique2
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600erratique2
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500erratik1
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2003erratic1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English erratic
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English erratik
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything: “The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁ers-Wiktionary, English erratic‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁ers-eh₂-yé-tiWiktionary, English erraticreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*erzāōWiktionary, English erratic‘to roam, wander’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEerrōWiktionary, English erratic‘to wander, rove, stray, roam’
  5. Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEerrāticusWiktionary, English erratic‘wandering, roving’next step skipped: Old French erratique
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400erratiqueWiktionary, Middle English erratik
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600erratiqueWiktionary, Middle English erratik
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500erratikWiktionary, English erratic
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2003erraticWiktionary, English erratic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything: “The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- ‘to flow’

rory, rouse, rishi, 21 more

through Latin errō ‘to wander, rove, stray, roam’

error, erroneous, err, errant, 7 more

Today it means

adj Unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “erratic”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Middle English erratik. 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 *h₁ers- / erratic

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