English
odd
Odd comes from Middle English odde ‘odd (not even)’, from Old Norse oddr ‘point of a weapon’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uzdaz1‘point’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350oddr1‘point of a weapon’
- Old Norsec. 800–1350oddi1‘odd’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500odde1‘odd’
- Englishearliest quotation 1815odd1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English odd
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering; or: “I assure you, if I were Hazlewood I should…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uzdazWiktionary, English odd‘point’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350oddrWiktionary, English odd‘point of a weapon’
- Old Norsec. 800–1350oddiWiktionary, English odd‘odd’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500oddeWiktionary, English odd‘odd’
- Englishearliest quotation 1815oddWiktionary, English odd. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering; or: “I assure you, if I were Hazlewood I should…”
A compound of *wes- ‘to stick, prick, pierce, sting’ + *dʰeh₁- ‘to set, place’
Proto-Indo-European *wes- ‘to stick, prick, pierce, sting’
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to set, place’
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with odd, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Germanic *uzdaz ‘point’
- ord ← *oʀd
through Middle English odde ‘odd (not even)’
- oddly ← oddely
2 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “odd”. 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-Germanic *uzdaz / odd