Etymograph

English

off

Off comes from Old English of ‘from, off, away’, from æf ‘of’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ep1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂epó1‘off’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ab1‘from’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ab1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150æf1‘of’
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150of1‘from’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500of1
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1897off1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English off
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “No matter how early I came down, I would…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂epWiktionary, English offreconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂epóWiktionary, English off‘off’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*abWiktionary, English off‘from’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*abWiktionary, English offreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150æfWiktionary, English off‘of’
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150ofWiktionary, English off‘from’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ofWiktionary, English off
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1897offWiktionary, English off. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “No matter how early I came down, I would…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó ‘off, away’

  • afterward ← æfterweard ← æfter ← *after
  • abdomen ← abdō ← ab ← *ap
  • overt ← ovrir ← operire ← aperīre

through Proto-Germanic *ab ‘from’

  • ebb ← ebbe ← ebba ← *abbjā ← *abjô

through Middle English of

4 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adv In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “off”. 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 *h₂ep / off