Etymograph

English

narrow

Narrow comes from Middle English narow, from Old English nearu, from Proto-Germanic *narwaz ‘constricted’, from PIE *(s)ner- ‘to turn, bend’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ner-1‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*narwaz1‘constricted’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*naru1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150nearu1‘narrow’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500narow1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667narrow1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English narrow
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book IX: “But first with narrow search I must walk round…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ner-Wiktionary, English narrow‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*narwazWiktionary, English narrow‘constricted’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*naruWiktionary, English narrowreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150nearuWiktionary, English narrow‘narrow’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500narowWiktionary, English narrow
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667narrowWiktionary, English narrow. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book IX: “But first with narrow search I must walk round…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ner-

Another origin of narrow

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500narwen‘to narrow’
  2. Englishtodaynarrow

Today it means

adj Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “narrow”. 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 *(s)ner- / narrow

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