English
hole
Hole comes from Old English hol ‘hollow place, cavity’, from Proto-Germanic *hulą ‘hollow space’, from *hulaz ‘hollow’, of uncertain origin.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hulaz1‘hollow’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hulą1‘hollow space’reconstructednoun derivative of *hulaz
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hol1‘hollow space, cavity’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hol1‘hole, hollow place’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hole1
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1606–1607hole1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English hole
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra: “To be called into a huge sphere, and not…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hulazWiktionary, English hole‘hollow’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huląWiktionary, English hole‘hollow space’reconstructednoun derivative of *hulaz
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*holWiktionary, English hole‘hollow space, cavity’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150holWiktionary, English hole‘hole, hollow place’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500holeWiktionary, English hole
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1606–1607holeWiktionary, English hole. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra: “To be called into a huge sphere, and not…”
The story
Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (‘orifice, hollow place, cavity’), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (‘hole’), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (‘hollow space, cavity’), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (‘hollow’), which is of uncertain ultimate origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with hole, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover’
- hell ← hel ← hel ← *hallju ← *haljō
- cell ← celle ← cella
- hall ← halle ← heall ← *hallu ← *hallō
- color ← colour ← colur ← colōs ← *kelōs
- ceiling ← celing ← celer ← cēlō
- hull ← hul ← hulu ← *hul-
- helmet
- halt ← halten ← halten ← haltan ← *haldan
- helm ← helma ← *helmô
- holder ← hold ← holden ← healdan ← *haldan
- conceal ← concelen ← conceler ← concēlō
- clandestine ← clandestīnus
54 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “hole”. 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-Germanic *hulaz / hole