Etymograph

English

gain

Gain comes from Middle English gayn ‘profit’, from Old Norse gagn ‘benefit’, from Proto-Germanic *gagną, ultimately from PIE *ḱóm.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱóm1‘next to’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ga-1‘with’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gagana1‘back’reconstructedreduplication of *ga-
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gagną1reconstructed
  5. Old Norsec. 800–1350gagn1‘benefit’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gayn1‘profit’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588gain1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English gain
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “All running headlong after greedie ſpoiles: And more regarding…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱómWiktionary, English gain‘next to’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ga-Wiktionary, English gain‘with’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gaganaWiktionary, English gain‘back’reconstructedreduplication of *ga-
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gagnąWiktionary, English gainreconstructed
  5. Old Norsec. 800–1350gagnWiktionary, English gain‘benefit’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gaynWiktionary, English gain‘profit’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588gainWiktionary, English gain. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “All running headlong after greedie ſpoiles: And more regarding…”

The story

The Middle English word was reinforced by Middle French gain (‘gain, profit, advancement, cultivation’), from Old French gaaing, gaaigne, gaigne, a noun derivative of gaaignier, gaigner (‘to till, earn, win’), from Frankish *waiþanōn (‘to pasture, graze, hunt for food’), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waiþiz, *waiþō, *waiþijō (‘pasture, field, hunting ground’); compare Old High German weidōn, weidanōn (‘to hunt, forage for food’) (Modern German Weide (‘pasture’)), Old Norse veiða (‘to catch, hunt’), Old English wǣþan (‘to hunt, chase, pursue’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘next to, at, with, along’

  • among ← amang ← onġemang ← ġemang ← mang
  • conference ← cōnferentia ← cōnferēns ← *kom- ← *kom
  • consider ← consideren ← considerer ← considero ← *kom-
  • competition ← competītiō ← competō ← *kom- ← *kom
  • counter ← contre ← contra ← *komterād ← *komteros
  • consistent ← cōnsistēntem ← cōnsistō ← *kom- ← *kom
  • concrete ← concrētus ← *kom- ← *kom
  • con ← contrā ← *komterād ← *komteros ← *kom-
  • comply ← complire ← complēre ← compleō
  • cum ← com ← *kom
  • commodity ← commoditee ← commoditee ← commoditās ← commodus
  • cue ← cu ← cum ← com ← *kom

45 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of gain

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350gegn‘straight, direct, short, ready, serviceable, kindly’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gayn‘straight, direct, short, fit, good’
  3. Englishtodaygain

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Today it means

verb To acquire possession of.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “gain”. 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 *ḱóm / gain