English
finding
Finding comes from Middle English fyndyng.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English finding
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1844, John O’Brien, O’Brien’s Philadelphia Wholesale Business Directory: “Boot and Shoe Findings and Leather Establishments[…] Yocum &…”.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fyndyngWiktionary, English finding
- Englishearliest quotation 1844findingWiktionary, English finding. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1844, John O’Brien, O’Brien’s Philadelphia Wholesale Business Directory: “Boot and Shoe Findings and Leather Establishments[…] Yocum &…”
Formed from find + -ing
Proto-Indo-European *pent- ‘to go’
Proto-Germanic *finþaną ‘to find’
Proto-West Germanic *finþan ‘to find’
Old English findan ‘to find’
Middle English finden ‘to find’
English find
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pent- ‘to go, pass’
path, patrol, pad, faze, pontiff, sputnik, pontoon, pons, pontifical, pontifex, 14 more
Today it means
noun A result of research or an investigation.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “finding”. 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 / Middle English fyndyng / finding