Etymograph

English

loss

Loss comes from Old English los ‘damage, destruction, loss’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *lews- ‘to cut, sunder, separate, loose, lose’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lews-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lusą1‘dissolution’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*los1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150los1‘damage’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500los1
  6. Englishtodayloss1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English loss

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lews-Wiktionary, English loss‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lusąWiktionary, English loss‘dissolution’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*losWiktionary, English lossreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150losWiktionary, English loss‘damage’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500losWiktionary, English loss
  6. EnglishtodaylossWiktionary, English loss

Word family

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

through Middle English los

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The result of no longer possessing an object, a function, or a characteristic due to external causes or misplacement.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “loss”. 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 *lews- / loss