English
overturn
Overturn comes from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, turn’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-1‘to rub, turn’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500overturnen1
- Englishearliest quotation 1962overturn1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English overturn
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1962, Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington: “About three or four minutes later still an express…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-Wiktionary, English overturn‘to rub, turn’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500overturnenWiktionary, English overturn
- Englishearliest quotation 1962overturnWiktionary, English overturn. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1962, Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington: “About three or four minutes later still an express…”
Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by turning, turn’
…
Latin tornō ‘to round off, turn in a lathe’
Proto-West Germanic *turnēn ‘to turn, lathe’
Old English turnian ‘to turn, rotate’
Middle English turnen ‘to turn’
English turn
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, turn’
throw, return, thread, tournament, tragic, threshold, trout, detrimental, turner, tyrone, detriment, attrition, thrash, detour, triage, trite, tribulation, tourney, termite, detritus, truant, tyro, tourniquet, thresh, upturn, derma, 38 more
Today it means
verb To turn over, capsize or upset.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “overturn”. 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 *terh₁- / overturn