Etymograph

English

sake

Sake comes from Middle English sake ‘sake, cause’, from Proto-West Germanic *saku ‘accusation, charge’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- ‘to investigate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂g-1‘to investigate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sakō1‘affair’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*saku1‘accusation’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sacu1‘cause’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sake1‘sake’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1526sake1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sake
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Ne ãd except thoſe dayes ſhulde be ſhoꝛtened /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂g-Wiktionary, English sake‘to investigate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sakōWiktionary, English sake‘affair’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sakuWiktionary, English sake‘accusation’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sacuWiktionary, English sake‘cause’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sakeWiktionary, English sake‘sake’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1526sakeWiktionary, English sake. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Ne ãd except thoſe dayes ſhulde be ſhoꝛtened /…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- ‘to investigate’

  • seek ← seke ← sēċan ← *sōkijan ← *sōkijaną
  • soc ← soke ← sōcn ← *sōkni ← *sōkniz
  • hegemony ← ἡγεμονία ← ἡγεμών ← ἡγέομαι
  • beseech ← besechen ← sēċan ← *sōkijan ← *sōkijaną
  • saya ← *sagia ← sagum ← sagus ← *séh₂gos
  • hegemon ← ἡγεμών ← ἡγέομαι
  • sagittal ← sagittālis ← sagitta ← sāgiō ← *sāgiō
  • presage ← praesāgium ← praesāgio ← sāgiō ← *sāgiō
  • sagacity ← sagacité ← sagācitās ← sagāx ← sāgiō

through Proto-West Germanic *saku ‘accusation, charge’

  • sucker ← Sache ← sache ← sahha

19 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun Cause, interest or account.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sake”. 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 *seh₂g- / sake