Etymograph

English

fosterling

Fosterling comes from Old English fōstorling ‘foster child’, from fōstor ‘food’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-1‘to protect’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fōstrą1‘fostering’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fōstr1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fōstor2‘food’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fōstorling3‘foster child’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fosterling3
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1904fosterling3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English fostor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English fostorling
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English fosterling
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1904, Unknown: “'We know him indeed, this boy,' said Conall Cernach,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-Wiktionary, Old English fostor‘to protect’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fōstrąWiktionary, Old English fostor‘fostering’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fōstrWiktionary, Old English fostorreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fōstorWiktionary, Old English fostorling‘food’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fōstorlingWiktionary, English fosterling‘foster child’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fosterlingWiktionary, English fosterling
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1904fosterlingWiktionary, English fosterling. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1904, Unknown: “'We know him indeed, this boy,' said Conall Cernach,…”

Formed from foster + -ling

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect’

Proto-Germanic *fōstrą ‘nourishment, food’

Proto-West Germanic *fōstr

Old English fōstor ‘food, sustenance’

Middle English foster

English foster

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect’

company, food, father, pain, feed, pope, apparent, pattern, companion, fur, papa, pastor, patron, patriot, penetration, fad, accompaniment, pasture, perpetrator, padre, fodder, ayr, paternal, paternity, forage, patrician, patrimony, panini, pav, perpetrate, pater, pantaloons, compere, pannier, 59 more

Today it means

noun a foster child

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fosterling”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old English fostor, Old English fostorling. 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 *peh₂- / fosterling

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