Etymograph

English

malm

Malm comes from Middle English malme ‘sand’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- ‘to grind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-1‘to grind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*malmaz2‘sand, ore’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150mealm2‘sand, chalk’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500malme2‘sand’
  5. Englishtodaymalm2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *malmaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English malm

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *malmaz‘to grind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*malmazWiktionary, English malm‘sand, ore’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150mealmWiktionary, English malm‘sand, chalk’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500malmeWiktionary, English malm‘sand’
  5. EnglishtodaymalmWiktionary, English malm

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- ‘to grind’

miller, mill, mild, meal, mold, mole, mould, mule, muller, camo, bonanza, molar, mullet, melatonin, mull, moulin, moline, maelstrom, malleable, martel, amalgam, amyl, 39 more

Today it means

noun A soft, crumbly, chalky, grayish limestone.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “malm”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *malmaz. 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 *melh₂- / malm

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