Etymograph

English

hate

Hate comes from Old English hatian ‘to hate’, from Proto-Germanic *hatāną, from *hataz ‘hate’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₂d-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱeh₂d-1‘angriness, hatred’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hataz2‘hate’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hatāną3‘to hate’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hatēn4reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hatian5‘to hate’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haten5
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1997hate5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hataz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hatāną
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *hatēn
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Old English hatian
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English hate
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1997, Popular Science: “People who hate broccoli may have super-sensitive taste buds.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱeh₂d-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hataz‘angriness, hatred’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hatazWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hatāną‘hate’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hatānąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *hatēn‘to hate’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hatēnWiktionary, Old English hatianreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hatianWiktionary, English hate‘to hate’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hatenWiktionary, English hate
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1997hateWiktionary, English hate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1997, Popular Science: “People who hate broccoli may have super-sensitive taste buds.”

The story

Merged with Middle English het, hete (‘hate’), from Old English hete, from Proto-West Germanic *hati, from Proto-Germanic *hataz (‘hate’), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₂d- (‘angriness, hatred’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Germanic *hataz

  • hatred ← haterede ← hate ← hete ← *hati

Explore everything descended from *ḱeh₂d- →

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Today it means

noun An object of hatred.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *hataz, Proto-Germanic *hatāną, Proto-West Germanic *hatēn, Old English hatian. 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 *ḱeh₂d- / hate