Etymograph

English

hydro

Hydro comes from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ ‘water’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wed-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-1‘water’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wódr̥2‘water’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*údōr2‘water’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὕδωρ3húdōr‘water’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1909hydro3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ὕδωρ
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English hydro
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1909, Rudyard Kipling: “She almost lived at hotels and hydros, last year,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥‘water’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wódr̥Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ὕδωρ‘water’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*údōrWiktionary, Ancient Greek ὕδωρ‘water’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὕδωρWiktionary, English hydrohúdōr‘water’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1909hydroWiktionary, English hydro. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1909, Rudyard Kipling: “She almost lived at hotels and hydros, last year,…”

The story

The Canadian "electricity" sense is owing to hydroelectricity being the prevalent source of electricity in much of Canada and many electric companies having the word Hydro in their names.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘water’

wet, wash, und, abundance, abundant, redundant, surround, otter, vitriol, vitreous, inundate, undine, 43 more

through Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ ‘water’

water, vodka, vedra, 18 more

through Proto-Hellenic *údōr ‘water’

hydrate, aldehyde, hydride, 14 more

through Ancient Greek ὕδωρ ‘water’

anhydrous, 11 more

Today it means

adj Electrical power supply; specifically, electrical power provided by a utility (as a publicly-owned one); payment or bills for this.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hydro”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥, Ancient Greek ὕδωρ. 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 *wed- / hydro

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