Etymograph

English

full

Full comes from Old English full ‘full’, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós ‘full’, and ultimately from *pleh₁- ‘to fill’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₁-1‘to fill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pl̥h₁nós2‘full’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fullaz2‘full’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*full2‘full’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150full2‘full’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ful2‘full’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611full2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English full
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Prospero: I have done nothing but in care of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós‘to fill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pl̥h₁nósWiktionary, English full‘full’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fullazWiktionary, English full‘full’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fullWiktionary, English full‘full’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fullWiktionary, English full‘full’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fulWiktionary, English full‘full’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611fullWiktionary, English full. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Prospero: I have done nothing but in care of…”

The story

Germanic cognates include West Frisian fol, Low German vull, Dutch vol, German voll, Danish fuld, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish full. Proto-Indo-European cognates include English plenty (via Latin, compare plēnus), Welsh llawn, Russian по́лный (pólnyj), Lithuanian pilnas, Persian پر (por), Sanskrit पूर्ण (pūrṇá). For the "drunk, intoxicated" sense, compare also Swedish full and other Scandinavian languages.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with full, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- ‘to fill’

  • people ← puple ← pueple ← populus ← populus
  • public ← publik
  • complete ← compleet ← complet
  • plus ← plous ← *plēōs ← *pléh₁yōs
  • supply ← supplien ← soupleer ← suppleo ← pleō
  • popular ← populer ← populāris ← populus ← populus
  • completion ← completio ← compleō ← pleō ← *plēō
  • folk ← folc ← *fulką ← *pl̥h₁-gós
  • implement ← implēmentum ← impleō ← pleō ← *plēō
  • accomplish ← accomplisshen ← acompliss- ← *(ac)complīre ← compleo
  • comply ← complire ← complēre ← compleō ← *ḱóm
  • supplement ← supplementum ← suppleō ← pleō ← *plēō

129 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of full

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plūno-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fullį̄‘fullness’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fullīreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fyllu‘fullness, fill, plenty’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fulle
  6. Englishtodayfull

Another origin of full

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*full-reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150fullian‘to baptise’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fullen‘to baptise’
  4. Englishtodayfull

Another origin of full

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₃-‘to inflate, blow, swell’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfullō‘a fuller’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500fullāre
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400foler‘to destroy’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400fuller
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fullen‘to full’
  7. Englishtodayfull

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Today it means

adj Containing the maximum possible amount that can fit in the space available.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “full”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós. 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 *pleh₁- / full