Etymograph

English

grow

Grow comes from Middle English growen ‘to arise or spring up’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰreh₁-1‘to grow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grōaną1‘to grow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grōan1‘to grow’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150grōwan1‘to grow’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500growen1‘to arise or spring up’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1595grow1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English grow
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰreh₁-Wiktionary, English grow‘to grow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grōanąWiktionary, English grow‘to grow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grōanWiktionary, English grow‘to grow’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150grōwanWiktionary, English grow‘to grow’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500growenWiktionary, English grow‘to arise or spring up’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1595growWiktionary, English grow. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow, become green’

  • green ← grene ← grēne ← *grōnī ← *grōniz
  • grass ← gras ← græs ← *gras ← *grasą
  • herb ← herbe ← erbe ← herba ← *gʰer-dʰ
  • arbor ← arbour ← erbier ← erbe ← herba
  • graze ← grasen ← grasian ← *grasōn ← *grasōną
  • yerba
  • greedily ← gredyly ← grǣdiglīce ← grǣdiġ ← *grādag
  • ambergris ← ambre gris

through Proto-Germanic *grōaną ‘to grow, grow green’

  • gourmet ← groumet ← grom ← *grōm ← *grōm
  • groom ← grom ← *grōma ← *grōmō

20 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To become larger, to increase in magnitude.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “grow”. 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 *gʰreh₁- / grow