Etymograph

English

fow

Fow comes from Old Norse fága ‘to polish, clean’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘joyful, pretty’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-1‘joyful, pretty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fēgōną1‘to polish’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350fága2‘to polish, clean’
  4. Englishtodayfow2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old Norse fága
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English fow

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-Wiktionary, Old Norse fága‘joyful, pretty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fēgōnąWiktionary, Old Norse fága‘to polish’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350fágaWiktionary, English fow‘to polish, clean’
  4. EnglishtodayfowWiktionary, English fow

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‘joyful, pretty’

fight, fee, fellow, peculiar, fax, feud, cynical, hound, fawn, poodle, cynic, feu, pec, fain, pecuniary, chenille, 25 more

Today it means

verb To clean, cleanse (out), as in cooking utensils or house maintenance.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fow”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old Norse fága. 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 *peḱ- / fow

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