Etymograph

English

jelly

Jelly comes from Middle English gele ‘a jelly made from the stock of meats or a meal…’, from Old French gelee ‘cold spell’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-1‘cold’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgelū1‘frost’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgelo2as gelāre‘to freeze, cause to congeal’
  4. Early Medieval Latinmoderngelāta2
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gelee3‘cold spell’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gele3‘a jelly made from the stock of meats or a meal it is part of’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1821jelly3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin gelo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French gelee
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English jelly
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1821, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine: “Sam floored him perpetually, and beat his face to…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-Wiktionary, Latin gelo‘cold’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgelūWiktionary, Latin gelo‘frost’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgeloWiktionary, Old French geleeas gelāre‘to freeze, cause to congeal’
  4. Early Medieval LatinmoderngelātaWiktionary, Old French gelee
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400geleeWiktionary, English jelly‘cold spell’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500geleWiktionary, English jelly‘a jelly made from the stock of meats or a meal it is part of’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1821jellyWiktionary, English jelly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1821, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine: “Sam floored him perpetually, and beat his face to…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘cold’

children, child, cold, clean, cloud, globe, cluster, chill, colt, clout, clot, clough, glebe, ganglion, clod, globus, klutz, globulin, 48 more

through Latin gelū ‘frost’

gel, gelatin, 21 more

through Latin gelo ‘to freeze, cause to congeal’

gelato, 18 more

Today it means

noun A dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “jelly”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin gelo, Old French gelee. 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 *gel- / jelly

Shirt and support for this word