Etymograph

English

hewe

Hewe comes from Middle English hewe ‘servant, hireling’, from Old English hīwa ‘member of a family’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱey-1‘to lie with, store, be familiar’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hīwô1‘relative, fellow-lodger, family’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hīwa1‘member of a family’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hewe1‘servant, hireling’
  5. Englishtodayhewe1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hewe

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱey-Wiktionary, English hewe‘to lie with, store, be familiar’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hīwôWiktionary, English hewe‘relative, fellow-lodger, family’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hīwaWiktionary, English hewe‘member of a family’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heweWiktionary, English hewe‘servant, hireling’
  5. EnglishtodayheweWiktionary, English hewe

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- ‘to lie with, store, be familiar’

home, city, civil, hide, cemetery, civic, coma, haunt, citadel, civitas, ceilidh, hame, 32 more

through Middle English hewe ‘servant, hireling’

hue

Today it means

noun A domestic; a servant or retainer.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hewe”. 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 *ḱey- / hewe

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