English
ready
Ready comes from Middle English redy, an alteration of earlier ired ‘ready, prepared’, from Old English ġerǣde ‘prepared, ready’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *raidaz ‘ready’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂reh₁dʰ-1reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raidaz1‘ready’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*garaidijaz1reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ġerǣde1‘prepared, prompt, ready’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ired1‘ready, prepared’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500redy1
- Englishearliest quotation 1565ready1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English ready
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1565, Theodore Beza, The 7 poynt: “First their must be a clericall tonſure whereas they…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂reh₁dʰ-Wiktionary, English readyreconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raidazWiktionary, English ready‘ready’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*garaidijazWiktionary, English readyreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ġerǣdeWiktionary, English ready‘prepared, prompt, ready’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500iredWiktionary, English ready‘ready, prepared’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500redyWiktionary, English ready
- Englishearliest quotation 1565readyWiktionary, English ready. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1565, Theodore Beza, The 7 poynt: “First their must be a clericall tonſure whereas they…”
The story
From Middle English redy, redi, rædiȝ, iredi, ȝerǣdi, alteration ( + -y) of earlier irēd, irede, ȝerād (‘ready, prepared’), from Old English rǣde, ġerǣde (also ġerȳde) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (‘ready’), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁dʰ-, *h₂reh₁- (‘to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable’) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (‘to ride’) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready".
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with ready, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- ‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’
- order ← ordre ← ordne ← ōrdinem ← *ordō
- art ← artem ← ars ← *artis ← *h₂értis
- rate ← rata ← prō ratā parte ← ratus ← reor
- article ← articulus ← artus ← *h₂értus
- army ← armee ← armee ← armātus ← armō
- artist ← artiste ← artista ← ars ← *artis
- reason ← resoun ← raisun ← ratiō ← ratus
- arm ← earm ← *armaz ← *h₂érmos
- ordinary ← ordenarie ← ordinaire ← ordinarius ← ōrdō
- ratio ← reor
- alarm ← alarme ← alarme
- harmony ← armonye ← harmonie ← harmonia ← ἁρμονία
107 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Prepared for immediate action or use.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “ready”. 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 *h₂reh₁dʰ- / ready