Etymograph

English

lee

Lee comes from Old English hlēo ‘shelter, protection’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *hlaiwaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlaiwaz1reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hlaiw1‘shelter’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hlēo1‘shelter’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lee1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485lee1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lee
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1470–1485, (please specify the chapter): “We lurked under lee.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlaiwazWiktionary, English leereconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hlaiwWiktionary, English lee‘shelter’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hlēoWiktionary, English lee‘shelter’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500leeWiktionary, English lee
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485leeWiktionary, English lee. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1470–1485, (please specify the chapter): “We lurked under lee.”

Word family

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

through Proto-West Germanic *hlaiw ‘shelter’

  • law ← lawe ← hlǣw
  • low ← lowe ← hlǣw

through Middle English lee

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Today it means

noun A protected cove or harbor, out of the wind.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lee”. 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-Germanic *hlaiwaz / lee