Etymograph

English

feel

Feel comes from Old English fēlan ‘to feel’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fōlijan1‘to feel’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēlan1‘to feel’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500felen1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1613feel1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English feel
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “They promised me eternal happiness; And brought me garlands,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fōlijanWiktionary, English feel‘to feel’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēlanWiktionary, English feel‘to feel’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500felenWiktionary, English feel
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1613feelWiktionary, English feel. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “They promised me eternal happiness; And brought me garlands,…”

Word family

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

through Old English fēlan ‘to feel’

Explore everything descended from *fōlijan →

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Today it means

verb To become aware of through the skin; to use the sense of touch on.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “feel”. 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-West Germanic *fōlijan / feel