Etymograph

English

oeuvre

Oeuvre comes from French œuvre ‘work, book, piece’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ep-1‘work’next step skipped: Latin opus
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEopera1
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400uevre1‘a work’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentœuvre1‘work, book, piece’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1990oeuvre1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English oeuvre
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1990, Bill Watterson: “(Calvin) This piece is about the inadequacy of traditional…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ep-Wiktionary, English oeuvre‘work’next step skipped: Latin opus
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoperaWiktionary, English oeuvre
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400uevreWiktionary, English oeuvre‘a work’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentœuvreWiktionary, English oeuvre‘work, book, piece’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1990oeuvreWiktionary, English oeuvre. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1990, Bill Watterson: “(Calvin) This piece is about the inadequacy of traditional…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- ‘work’

office, official, bus, copy, cooperation, operative, cooperate, opus, omnibus, copious, opulence, officiate, officiant, officious, omnivore, 20 more

through Latin opera

operation, operate, operator, opera, ure, operetta, 10 more

Today it means

noun A work of art, music or literature.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “oeuvre”. 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 *h₃ep- / oeuvre

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