Etymograph

English

hill

Hill comes from Old English hyll, from Proto-Germanic *hulliz ‘hill’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥Hnís ‘top, hill, rock’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kl̥Hnís1‘top, hill, rock’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hulliz1‘hill’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hulli1‘hill’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hyll1‘hill’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hil1‘hill’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1795hill1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hill
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1795, Gammer Gurton's Garland, The Nursery Parnassus: “Jack and Gill Went up the hill, To fetch…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kl̥HnísWiktionary, English hill‘top, hill, rock’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hullizWiktionary, English hill‘hill’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hulliWiktionary, English hill‘hill’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hyllWiktionary, English hill‘hill’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hilWiktionary, English hill‘hill’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1795hillWiktionary, English hill. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1795, Gammer Gurton's Garland, The Nursery Parnassus: “Jack and Gill Went up the hill, To fetch…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *kelH- ‘to rise’

  • excellent ← excellēns ← excellō ← *kelnō
  • colonel ← coronnel ← colonnello ← columna
  • column ← columne ← columne ← columna ← culmen
  • excellence ← excellentia ← excellēns ← excellō ← *kelnō
  • hale ← halen ← *halon ← *halōną
  • culmination ← culminer ← culmināre ← culmen ← *kolamen
  • excellency ← excellencie ← excellentia ← excellēns ← excellō
  • holm ← *hulmaz
  • excelsior ← excelsus ← excellō ← *kelnō
  • culminate ← culminātus
  • colonnade ← colonne ← colomne ← columne ← columna
  • columella ← columna ← culmen ← *kolamen

8 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun An elevated landmass smaller than a mountain.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hill”. 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 *kl̥Hnís / hill