Etymograph

English

orb

Orb comes from Old French orbe, and goes back to Latin orbis ‘circle, orb’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEorbis1‘circle, orb’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400orbe1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500orbe1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1598–1599orb1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English orb
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1598–1599, Much Adoe about Nothing: “You seem to me as Dian in her orb.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEorbisWiktionary, English orb‘circle, orb’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400orbeWiktionary, English orb
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500orbeWiktionary, English orb
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1598–1599orbWiktionary, English orb. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1598–1599, Much Adoe about Nothing: “You seem to me as Dian in her orb.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ- ‘to turn’

robot, bot, orphan, orbit, erf, 15 more

Another origin of orb

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃erbʰ-‘to change ownership’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃órbʰos‘orphan’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEorbus‘destitute’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400orb‘blind’
  5. Englishtodayorb

Today it means

noun A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “orb”. 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 orbis / orb

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