Etymograph

English

hide

Hide comes from Old English hȳdan, from Proto-Germanic *huzdijaną ‘to hoard’, from *huzdą ‘treasure’, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- ‘to cover’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewH-1‘to cover’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewdʰ-1‘to cover’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdą1‘treasure, hoard’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdijaną1‘to hoard’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*huʀdijan1‘to conceal’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150hȳdan1‘to hide’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hiden1‘to conceal’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2013hide1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hide
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Timothy Garton Ash, Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli: “Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewH-Wiktionary, English hide‘to cover’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewdʰ-Wiktionary, English hide‘to cover’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdąWiktionary, English hide‘treasure, hoard’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdijanąWiktionary, English hide‘to hoard’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*huʀdijanWiktionary, English hide‘to conceal’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150hȳdanWiktionary, English hide‘to hide’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hidenWiktionary, English hide‘to conceal’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2013hideWiktionary, English hide. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Timothy Garton Ash, Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli: “Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of…”

The story

The verb was originally weak. In the King James Version of the Bible (1611), both hid and hidden are used for the past participle.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- ‘to cover’

house, sky, hose, scum, shun, 11 more

Another origin of hide

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewH-‘to cover, conceal, hide’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéw(H)tis‘skin, hide’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hūdiz‘skin, hide’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hūdi‘skin, hide’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hȳd‘skin, hide’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hyde‘human skin’
  7. Englishtodayhide

Another origin of hide

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱey-‘to lie with, store, be familiar’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hīwazreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hīd‘a measure of land’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hide
  5. Englishtodayhide

Today it means

verb To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hide”. 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 *(s)kewH- / hide

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