English

fever

Fever comes from Latin febris ‘a fever’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’.

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-¹‘to burn’reconstructed
Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-ri-s²reconstructed
Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feɣʷris²reconstructed
Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfebris¹‘a fever’
Old Englishc. 450–1150fefer¹
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fever¹
Englishearliest quotation c. 1602fever¹

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

¹ Wiktionary, English fever
² Wiktionary, Latin febris
Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “an envious fever”.

Lineage

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-1Wiktionary, English fever‘to burn’reconstructed
Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-ri-s2Wiktionary, Latin febrisreconstructed
Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feɣʷris2Wiktionary, Latin febrisreconstructed
Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfebris1Wiktionary, English fever‘a fever’
Old Englishc. 450–1150fefer1Wiktionary, English fever
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fever1Wiktionary, English fever
Englishearliest quotation c. 1602fever1Wiktionary, English fever. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “an envious fever”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’

day, dear, dawn, darling, daw, foment, 20 more

through Latin febris ‘a fever’

febrile, 4 more

Today it means

noun A higher than normal body temperature of a person (or, generally, a mammal), usually caused by disease.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fever”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin febris. 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 *dʰegʷʰ- / fever

Shirt and support for this word

feverfever