Etymograph

English

idea

Idea comes from Latin idea ‘a (Platonic) idea; archetype’, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‘notion, pattern’, from εἴδω ‘to see’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- ‘to know; see’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyd-1‘to know; see’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεἴδω1‘to see’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἰδέα1ĭdéā‘notion, pattern’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEidea1‘a (Platonic) idea; archetype’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603idea1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English idea
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “The remembrance whereof (which yet I beare deepely imprinted…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyd-Wiktionary, English idea‘to know; see’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEεἴδωWiktionary, English idea‘to see’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἰδέαWiktionary, English ideaĭdéā‘notion, pattern’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEideaWiktionary, English idea‘a (Platonic) idea; archetype’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603ideaWiktionary, English idea. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “The remembrance whereof (which yet I beare deepely imprinted…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *weyd- ‘to know’

  • story ← storie ← estorie ← estoire ← historia
  • guy ← guie ← *wītan ← *wītaną
  • review ← revewe ← reveüe ← revideō ← videō
  • visit ← visiten ← visiter ← vīsitō ← vīsō
  • advice ← avys ← avis ← vis ← vīsus
  • interview ← entreveue ← entreveoir ← veoir ← videō
  • video ← *widēō ← *widéh₁yeti
  • evidence ← evidentia ← evidens ← videō ← *widēō
  • vision ← visioun ← visioun ← vīsiō ← visus
  • provide ← providen ← prōvideō ← videō ← *widēō
  • witness ← witnesse ← ġewitnes
  • wise ← wys ← wīs ← *wīsaz ← *weyd-s-ós

147 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun An abstract archetype of a given thing, compared to which real-life examples are seen as imperfect approximations; pure essence, as opposed to actual examples.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “idea”. 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 *weyd- / idea