Etymograph

English

sigh

Sigh comes from Middle English sighen ‘to sigh’, from sighte ‘sight’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- ‘to pour out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seykʷ-1‘to pour out’uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sīkan1‘to sigh, take a deep breath’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sīcan1‘to sigh’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sighte1‘sight’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sighen1‘to sigh’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1608–1609sigh1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sigh
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus: “Never man sighed truer breath.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seykʷ-Wiktionary, English sigh‘to pour out’uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sīkanWiktionary, English sigh‘to sigh, take a deep breath’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sīcanWiktionary, English sigh‘to sigh’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sighteWiktionary, English sigh‘sight’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sighenWiktionary, English sigh‘to sigh’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1608–1609sighWiktionary, English sigh. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus: “Never man sighed truer breath.”

The story

From Middle English sighen (‘to sigh’), back-formation from sighte, past tense form of siken, from Old English sīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *sīkan, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (‘to pour out’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- ‘to pour out’

sea, soul, sie, sicker, seel, sitch, 2 more

through Old English sīcan ‘to sigh’

sike

Another origin of sigh

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seykʷ-‘to pour out’uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sīkan‘to sigh, take a deep breath’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sīcan‘to sigh’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sighte‘sight’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sighen‘to sigh’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sighe
  7. Englishtodaysigh

Today it means

verb To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sigh”. 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 *seykʷ- / sigh

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