English
queme
Queme comes from Middle English quemen ‘to please’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to go, come’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷem-1‘to go, come’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwēmijaną1‘to please, comfort, come’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cwēman2‘to gratify, satisfy, please’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quemen2‘to please’
- Englishearliest quotation 1801queme2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Old English cweman
- 2 Wiktionary, English queme
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1801, George Ellis: “Of body she was right avenant, Of fair colour,…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷem-Wiktionary, Old English cweman‘to go, come’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwēmijanąWiktionary, Old English cweman‘to please, comfort, come’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cwēmanWiktionary, English queme‘to gratify, satisfy, please’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quemenWiktionary, English queme‘to please’
- Englishearliest quotation 1801quemeWiktionary, English queme. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1801, George Ellis: “Of body she was right avenant, Of fair colour,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to go, come’
come, coming, event, base, basic, basis, convention, adventure, revenue, bass, diabetes, avenue, inventory, cum, convenience, venue, advent, intervene, inventor, invent, souvenir, provenance, pug, convene, contravention, revenant, circumvention, contravene, quim, 54 more
Today it means
verb To please, to satisfy.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “queme”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English cweman. 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 *gʷem- / queme