English
font
Font comes from Latin fons ‘fountain’, from Proto-Italic *fontis ‘spring, well’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰenh₂- ‘to flow’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰenh₂-1‘to flow’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fontis2‘spring, well’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfons3as fōns‘fountain’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150font3
- Englishearliest quotation 1791font3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *fontis
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin fons
- 3 Wiktionary, English font
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Christopher Smart, Moderation: “Blessed be God, that, at the font, / My…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰenh₂-Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *fontis‘to flow’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fontisWiktionary, Latin fons‘spring, well’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfonsWiktionary, English fontas fōns‘fountain’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150fontWiktionary, English font
- Englishearliest quotation 1791fontWiktionary, English font. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Christopher Smart, Moderation: “Blessed be God, that, at the font, / My…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰenh₂- ‘to flow’
through Latin fons ‘fountain’
Another origin of font
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰewd-‘to pour’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600fonte‘act or process of founding or melting’
- Englishtodayfont
Today it means
noun A receptacle in a church for holy water, especially one used in baptism.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “font”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *fontis, Latin fons. 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 *dʰenh₂- / font