Etymograph

English

look

Look comes from Middle English loken ‘to look (at)’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *lōkōn.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lōkōn1‘to look’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150lōcian1‘to look’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500loken1‘to look’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592look1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English look
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “I have[…]more feet than shoes, or such shoes as…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lōkōnWiktionary, English look‘to look’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150lōcianWiktionary, English look‘to look’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lokenWiktionary, English look‘to look’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592lookWiktionary, English look. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “I have[…]more feet than shoes, or such shoes as…”

The story

Further origin unknown, no certain cognates outside Germanic.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Likely also related to German lugen (‘to peek’), Alemannic German luege (‘to look’), Yiddish לוגן (lugn).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *lōkōn

Today it means

verb As an intransitive verb, often with “at”.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “look”. 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-West Germanic *lōkōn / look

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