Etymograph

English

hoop

Hoop comes from Old English hōp ‘mound, raised land’, from Proto-Germanic *hōpą ‘bend, bow, arch’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kewb-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kewb-1‘to bend, bow, arch, vault’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hōpą2‘bend, bow, arch’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hōp2‘mound, raised land’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoop2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1596hoop2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hōpą
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English hoop
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, attributed to William Shakespeare; Thoma, The Raigne of King Edward the Third: […]: “[B]ehold the wretched price of Wales, / Hoopt with…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kewb-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hōpą‘to bend, bow, arch, vault’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hōpąWiktionary, English hoop‘bend, bow, arch’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hōpWiktionary, English hoop‘mound, raised land’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoopWiktionary, English hoop
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1596hoopWiktionary, English hoop. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, attributed to William Shakespeare; Thoma, The Raigne of King Edward the Third: […]: “[B]ehold the wretched price of Wales, / Hoopt with…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kewb- ‘to bend, bow, arch, vault’

hop

through Old English hōp ‘mound, raised land’

hope

Today it means

noun A circular band of metal used to bind a barrel.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hoop”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *hōpą. 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 *kewb- / hoop

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