Etymograph

English

member

Member comes from Latin membrum ‘limb, body part’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mḗms ‘flesh’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗms1‘flesh’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*memzrom1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmembrum1‘limb’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400membre1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500membre1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611member1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English member
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “For as we haue many members in one body,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗmsWiktionary, English member‘flesh’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*memzromWiktionary, English memberreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmembrumWiktionary, English member‘limb’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400membreWiktionary, English member
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500membreWiktionary, English member
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611memberWiktionary, English member. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “For as we haue many members in one body,…”

The story

Mostly displaced lith (‘limb, joint, member’), from Old English liþ (‘limb, member, join, tip’), which still survives in British dialect.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Latin membrum ‘limb, body part’

6 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun One who belongs to a group.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “member”. 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 *mḗms / member