Etymograph

English

haugh

Haugh comes from Scots haugh ‘a low-lying meadow in a river valley’, from Old English healh ‘corner, nook’, and ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *halh ‘a depression or elevation, an area of land…’.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halh1‘a depression or elevation, an area of land that differs in elevation from what it…’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150healh1‘corner, nook’
  3. Northern Middle Englishmodern*halgh1reconstructed
  4. Scotsc. 1450–presenthaugh1‘a low-lying meadow in a river valley’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1816haugh1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English haugh
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham pseudonym; Walter : “The sheriff of the county of Lanark was holding…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halhWiktionary, English haugh‘a depression or elevation, an area of land that differs in elevation from what it…’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150healhWiktionary, English haugh‘corner, nook’
  3. Northern Middle Englishmodern*halghWiktionary, English haughreconstructed
  4. Scotsc. 1450–presenthaughWiktionary, English haugh‘a low-lying meadow in a river valley’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1816haughWiktionary, English haugh. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham pseudonym; Walter : “The sheriff of the county of Lanark was holding…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover’

hell, color, cell, hole, hall, holder, ceiling, hull, helmet, hollow, helm, holden, halt, conceal, uphold, occult, clandestine, sari, sala, cilia, recline, declination, declension, tricolour, holing, seel, hele, halberd, 37 more

Today it means

noun A low-lying meadow by the side of a river.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “haugh”. 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-West Germanic *halh / haugh

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