Etymograph

English

gory

Gory comes from Old English gyr ‘filthy, muddy’, from gor ‘dirt, dung’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- ‘to be warm’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰer-1‘to be warm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gurą1‘half-digested stomach contents’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gor1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150gor2‘dirt, dung’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150gyr2‘filthy, muddy’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1928gory2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English gor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English gory
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1928, The Police Journal: “"What do you know of this Sara Stilton affair,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰer-Wiktionary, Old English gor‘to be warm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gurąWiktionary, Old English gor‘half-digested stomach contents’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gorWiktionary, Old English gorreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150gorWiktionary, English gory‘dirt, dung’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150gyrWiktionary, English gory‘filthy, muddy’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1928goryWiktionary, English gory. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1928, The Police Journal: “"What do you know of this Sara Stilton affair,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- ‘to be warm’

warm, thermal, furnace, thermos, forceps, garlick, 18 more

through Old English gor ‘dirt, dung’

gore, 1 more

Today it means

adj Covered with blood; very bloody.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “gory”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English gor. 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 *gʷʰer- / gory

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