Etymograph

English

lucy

Lucy comes from Latin lūcius ‘a fish, probably the pike’, from lūx ‘light’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- ‘bright’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewk-1‘bright’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*léwks1‘something bright, white’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*louks1‘light’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElūx2‘light’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElūcius3‘a fish, probably the pike’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1895lucy3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin lux
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin lucius
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English lucy
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1895, The Gentleman's Magazine, January to June issue: “That a lucy or luce is the mature pike,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewk-Wiktionary, Latin lux‘bright’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*léwksWiktionary, Latin lux‘something bright, white’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*louksWiktionary, Latin lux‘light’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElūxWiktionary, Latin lucius‘light’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElūciusWiktionary, English lucy‘a fish, probably the pike’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1895lucyWiktionary, English lucy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1895, The Gentleman's Magazine, January to June issue: “That a lucy or luce is the mature pike,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *lewk- ‘bright’

light, low, link, los, ounce, lea, lunar, luna, illumination, illuminate, lynx, luminous, translucent, lumen, luminosity, lucid, lumia, lucerne, luminescent, leucine, luminary, lune, lum, lucent, luminal, 72 more

through Proto-Indo-European *léwks ‘something bright, white’

loach, 11 more

through Latin lūx ‘light’

lux, 11 more

through Latin lūcius ‘a fish, probably the pike’

luce

Today it means

noun The northern pike (a kind of fish).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lucy”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin lux, Latin lucius. 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 *lewk- / lucy

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