English
fuel
Fuel comes from Old French fouaille ‘firewood’, from feu ‘fire’, from Late Latin focus ‘fire’, from Latin focus ‘hearth’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfocus1‘hearth’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfocus1‘fire’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400feu1‘fire’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fouaille1‘firewood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fuayle1‘fuel’
- Englishearliest quotation 1957fuel1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English fuel
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1957, Neville Shute: “[…] Lieutenant Hirsch appeared with a sheaf of signals…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfocusWiktionary, English fuel‘hearth’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfocusWiktionary, English fuel‘fire’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400feuWiktionary, English fuel‘fire’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fouailleWiktionary, English fuel‘firewood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fuayleWiktionary, English fuel‘fuel’
- Englishearliest quotation 1957fuelWiktionary, English fuel. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1957, Neville Shute: “[…] Lieutenant Hirsch appeared with a sheaf of signals…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine’
phone, professor, famous, ben, phase, favor, favourite, ban, fantasy, fate, fancy, fame, photographer, emphasis, phenomenon, profession, fatal, bee, fairy, fabulous, abandon, infant, confession, confess, phantom, symphony, beacon, beck, boon, eff, fab, fay, bane, prophetic, epiphany, fable, banish, buoy, nefarious, profess, 125 more
through Late Latin focus ‘fire’
Today it means
noun Substance consumed to provide energy through combustion, or through chemical or nuclear reaction.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “fuel”. 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 focus / fuel