Etymograph

English

oyez

Oyez comes from Old French oyez, from oir ‘to hear’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- ‘to see, perceive’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-1‘to see, perceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ewis1‘clearly, manifestly’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*awizdiō1‘to hear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudio2as audīre‘to hear, listen to’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oir2‘to hear’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oyez2imperative plural of oir
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500oyes2‘a call for attention’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1599oyez2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin audio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English oyez
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, Thomas Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe: “I truſte you make no queſtion about thoſe dull…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-Wiktionary, Latin audio‘to see, perceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ewisWiktionary, Latin audio‘clearly, manifestly’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*awizdiōWiktionary, Latin audio‘to hear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudioWiktionary, English oyezas audīre‘to hear, listen to’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oirWiktionary, English oyez‘to hear’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oyezWiktionary, English oyezimperative plural of oir
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500oyesWiktionary, English oyez‘a call for attention’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1599oyezWiktionary, English oyez. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, Thomas Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe: “I truſte you make no queſtion about thoſe dull…”

The story

Commonly folk-etymologized as (and pronounced homophonously to) O + yes in the early modern period.folk etymology The source marks this as unproven or a folk etymology. Quoted, not asserted.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- ‘to see, perceive’

love, egg, ear, aviation, acoustic, oval, avid, anesthesia, ey, ovation, avian, auspicious, aviator, aural, avarice, aviary, ocarina, otolaryngology, 63 more

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewis ‘clearly, manifestly’

auditory, 4 more

through Proto-Italic *awizdiō ‘to hear’

audition, auditorium, auditor, 6 more

through Latin audio ‘to hear, listen to’

audience, audit, obey, audible, 10 more

Today it means

intj Hear ye. Attend. (Called by public criers or in court usually three times to secure silence or attentiveness).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “oyez”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin audio. 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 *h₂ew- / oyez

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