Etymograph

English

reach

Reach comes from Old English rǣċan ‘to reach’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hreyǵ-1‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raikijaną1‘to stretch out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raikijan1‘to reach’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣċan1‘to reach’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rechen1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1601reach1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English reach
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1601, Caius Plinius Secundus [i.e., (please specify |book=I to XXXVII): “the gulfe Iasius, and all the coast thereof is…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hreyǵ-Wiktionary, English reach‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raikijanąWiktionary, English reach‘to stretch out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raikijanWiktionary, English reach‘to reach’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣċanWiktionary, English reach‘to reach’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rechenWiktionary, English reach
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1601reachWiktionary, English reach. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1601, Caius Plinius Secundus [i.e., (please specify |book=I to XXXVII): “the gulfe Iasius, and all the coast thereof is…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- ‘to bind, reach’

  • rigid ← rigide ← rigidus ← rigeō ← *rigēō
  • irrigation ← irrigatio ← irrigō ← rigō ← *rigā-
  • rigorous ← rigoreus ← rigōrōsus
  • rigor ← rigō ← *rigā-
  • rigour ← rigor ← rigor ← rigeō ← *rigēō

7 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of reach

  1. Chinesemodern立直lìzhí‘riichi’
  2. Japanesemodern立直rīchi‘riichi, a 役(やく) completed by declaring the hand to be 聴(てん)牌(ぱい)’
  3. Englishtodayreach

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Today it means

verb To extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “reach”. 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 *Hreyǵ- / reach