Etymograph

English

note

Note comes from Old English not ‘note, mark, sign’, and goes back to Latin nota.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnota1‘mark’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150not1‘note’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500note1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588note1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English note
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue: I tel…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnotaWiktionary, English note‘mark’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150notWiktionary, English note‘note’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500noteWiktionary, English note
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588noteWiktionary, English note. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue: I tel…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‘to recognise’

  • can ← cunnan ← *kunnan ← *kunnaną ← *ǵn̥néh₃ti
  • could ← coude ← cūþe ← cunnan ← *kunnaną
  • know ← knowen ← cnāwan ← *knāan ← *knēaną
  • normal ← normālis ← nōrma ← γνώμων
  • recognition ← recognicion ← recognicion ← recognitiōnem ← recognitus
  • narrative ← narratif ← narrātīvus ← narrō ← *gnārāō
  • glory ← glorie ← glōria ← *gnōr-
  • con ← connen ← cunnan ← *kunnan ← *kunnaną
  • ken ← kennen ← cennan ← cunnan ← *kannijan
  • ignore ← ignorer ← īgnōrō
  • keen ← kene ← cēne ← *kōniz
  • ignorant ← ignōrāns ← ignōrō ← *gnō-sāō

225 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of note

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*newd-‘to acquire, make use of’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*nutō‘enjoyment, utilisation’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*notureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150notu‘use, enjoyment, advantage, profit, utility’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500note‘use, usefulness, profit’
  6. Englishtodaynote

Related also to Old English notian (‘to enjoy, make use of, employ’), Old English nēotan (‘to use, enjoy’), Old High German niozan (‘to use, enjoy’) (Modern German genießen (‘to enjoy’)), Modern German benutzen (‘to use’).

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Today it means

noun A mark or token by which a thing may be known; a visible sign; a character; a distinctive mark or feature; a characteristic quality.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “note”. 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 / Latin nota / note