Etymograph

English

foundry

Foundry comes from French fondre ‘to melt, melt down, smelt’, from Proto-Italic *hundō ‘to pour out’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰewd-1‘to pour’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hundō1‘to pour out’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfundere1‘to melt’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fondre1‘to melt’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentfondre2‘to melt, melt down, smelt’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentfonderie3
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1944foundry3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French fondre
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French fonderie
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English foundry
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1944, and December, Some Memories of Crewe Works—II: “So after learning a great deal about iron founding…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰewd-Wiktionary, French fondre‘to pour’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hundōWiktionary, French fondre‘to pour out’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfundereWiktionary, French fondre‘to melt’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fondreWiktionary, French fondre‘to melt’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentfondreWiktionary, French fonderie‘to melt, melt down, smelt’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentfonderieWiktionary, English foundry
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1944foundryWiktionary, English foundry. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1944, and December, Some Memories of Crewe Works—II: “So after learning a great deal about iron founding…”

Equivalent to found ‘to melt (metals)’ + -ery ‘place’

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- ‘to pour’

yet, confused, refuse, gut, fuse, font, diffusion, infusion, perfusion, profusion, effusive, effusion, 40 more

through Proto-Italic *hundō ‘to pour out’

confusion, fusion, confuse, refund, diffuse, funnel, infuse, confound, 42 more

through French fondre ‘to melt, melt down, smelt’

fondant, fondue, 1 more

Today it means

noun A facility that melts metals in special furnaces and pours the molten metal into molds to make products. Foundries are usually specified according to the type of metal dealt with: iron foundry, brass foundry, etc.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “foundry”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for French fondre, French fonderie. 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 *ǵʰewd- / foundry

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