Etymograph

English

incise

Incise comes from Middle French inciser, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-1‘to cut, hew’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inciser1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2020incise1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English incise
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light: “The executioner’s blade is incised with Christ’s crown of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-Wiktionary, English incise‘to cut, hew’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inciserWiktionary, English incise
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2020inciseWiktionary, English incise. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light: “The executioner’s blade is incised with Christ’s crown of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’

hit, decision, cement, precise, circumcision, concise, chisel, scissor, excision, caesium, 29 more

Today it means

verb To cut in or into with a sharp instrument; to carve; to engrave.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “incise”. 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 *kh₂eyd- / incise

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