Etymograph

English

feed

Feed comes from Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan ‘to feed’, from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to guard, feed’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-1‘to protect, guard, graze, feed’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fōdijaną1‘to feed’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fōdijan1‘to feed’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēdan1‘to feed’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feden1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598feed1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English feed
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “If I can catch him once upon the hip,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-Wiktionary, English feed‘to protect, guard, graze, feed’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fōdijanąWiktionary, English feed‘to feed’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fōdijanWiktionary, English feed‘to feed’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēdanWiktionary, English feed‘to feed’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fedenWiktionary, English feed
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598feedWiktionary, English feed. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “If I can catch him once upon the hip,…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with feed, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to guard, graze, feed’

  • company ← companye ← compaignie ← *compania ← compāniō
  • food ← fode ← fōda ← *fōdō ← *fōdô
  • father ← fader ← fæder ← *fader ← *fadēr
  • pain ← payn ← panis
  • pattern ← patron ← patron ← patrōnus ← pater
  • pope ← pāpa ← papa ← παπᾶς ← πάπας
  • foster ← fōstor ← *fōstr ← *fōstrą
  • apparent ← apparaunt ← aparent ← appārēns
  • companion ← compaignon ← compāniōn- ← pānis
  • pastor ← pastour ← pāscō ← *pāskō ← *péh₂sti
  • fur ← furre ← forre ← *fōdar ← *fōdr
  • papa ← pater ← *patēr ← *ph₂tḗr

81 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of feed

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fede
  2. Englishtodayfeed

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Today it means

verb To give (someone or something) food to eat.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “feed”. 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 *peh₂- / feed