Etymograph

English

sing

Sing comes from Middle English singen ‘to produce chants or other sung verse’, from Old English singan ‘to sing’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sengʷʰ-1‘to recite’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*singwaną1‘to sing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*singwan1‘to sing’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150singan1‘to sing’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500singen1‘to produce chants or other sung verse’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611sing1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sing
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And they sung as it were a new song…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sengʷʰ-Wiktionary, English sing‘to recite’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*singwanąWiktionary, English sing‘to sing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*singwanWiktionary, English sing‘to sing’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150singanWiktionary, English sing‘to sing’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500singenWiktionary, English sing‘to produce chants or other sung verse’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611singWiktionary, English sing. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And they sung as it were a new song…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Germanic *singwaną ‘to sing’

  • song ← sang ← *sangu ← *sangwaz

Explore everything descended from *sengʷʰ- →

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Today it means

verb To produce musical or harmonious sounds with one’s voice.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sing”. 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 *sengʷʰ- / sing