Etymograph

English

fee

Fee comes from Old English feoh ‘cattle, property, money’, from Proto-Germanic *fehu ‘livestock’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘livestock’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-1‘livestock’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*péḱu2‘livestock’reconstructed*u-stem of *peḱ-
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehu3‘livestock’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fehu3‘livestock’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150feoh4‘cattle, property, money’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fee4
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1596fee4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *péḱu
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fehu
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English feoh
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English fee
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto X: “For though sweet love to conquer glorious bee, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *péḱu‘livestock’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*péḱuWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fehu‘livestock’reconstructed*u-stem of *peḱ-
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehuWiktionary, Old English feoh‘livestock’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fehuWiktionary, Old English feoh‘livestock’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150feohWiktionary, English fee‘cattle, property, money’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feeWiktionary, English fee
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1596feeWiktionary, English fee. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto X: “For though sweet love to conquer glorious bee, /…”

Linked words

pairs

  • fee and pecuniary both from Proto-Indo-European *péḱu ‘livestock’

through Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘livestock’

fight, fellow, peculiar, fax, fawn, fain, 25 more

through Proto-Indo-European *péḱu ‘livestock’

cynical, hound, poodle, feudal, cynic, pec, chenille, 12 more

through Proto-Germanic *fehu ‘livestock, cattle’

feud, fief, feu, 4 more

Today it means

noun An amount charged in return for permission to do something

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fee”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *péḱu, Proto-Germanic *fehu, Old English feoh. 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 *peḱ- / fee

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