Etymograph

English

hull

Hull comes from Middle English hul ‘seed covering, hull of a ship’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱel-1‘to cover, hide’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hul-1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hulu1‘seed covering’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hul1‘seed covering, hull of a ship’
  5. Englishtodayhull1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hull

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱel-Wiktionary, English hull‘to cover, hide’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hul-Wiktionary, English hullreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150huluWiktionary, English hull‘seed covering’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hulWiktionary, English hull‘seed covering, hull of a ship’
  5. EnglishtodayhullWiktionary, English hull

The story

For the sense development, compare French coque (‘nutshell; ship's hull’), Ancient Greek φάσηλος (phásēlos, “bean pod; yacht”).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover, hide’

color, hell, hole, cell, hall, holder, ceiling, helmet, halt, helm, hollow, holden, conceal, uphold, clandestine, sari, occult, sala, cilia, recline, declination, declension, tricolour, holing, haugh, seel, halberd, hele, 37 more

Another origin of hull

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500holle‘hull, hold of a ship, ship’
  2. Englishtodayhull

Possibly a variant and special use of Etymology 1 above, conformed to hull. Alternatively, a variant of Middle English hole, hoole, holle (“hiding place, lair, den, shelter, compartment”, literally “hole, hollow”), related to Middle Dutch and Dutch hol (‘hole, ship's cargo hold’).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.

Today it means

noun The outer covering of a fruit or seed.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hull”. 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 *ḱel- / hull

Shirt and support for this word