Etymograph

English

fool

Fool comes from Old French fol ‘foolish’, and goes back to Latin follis ‘bellows’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfollis1‘bellows’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fol1‘foolish’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fol1
  4. Englishearliest quotation a. 1569fool1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English fool
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1569, Roger Ascham, Write: “Erasmus, [...] saide wiselie that experience is the common…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfollisWiktionary, English fool‘bellows’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400folWiktionary, English fool‘foolish’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500folWiktionary, English fool
  4. Englishearliest quotation a. 1569foolWiktionary, English fool. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1569, Roger Ascham, Write: “Erasmus, [...] saide wiselie that experience is the common…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- ‘to swell’

budget, belly, bloc, bulge, budge, bellows, bolster, billow, 14 more

through Latin follis ‘bellows’

follicle, 7 more

through Old French fol ‘foolish’

folly, follies, 2 more

Another origin of fool

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₃-‘to inflate, blow, swell’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfullō‘fuller’
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*fullāre‘to trample, to full’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400foler‘to crush, act wickedly’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600fouller‘to trample, mill, fordo, mistreat’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentfouler‘to trample’
  7. Englishtodayfool

Today it means

noun A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fool”. 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 / Latin follis / fool

Shirt and support for this word