Etymograph

English

sleep

Sleep comes from Middle English slepen, from Anglian Old English slēpan, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną ‘to sleep’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slēpaną1‘to sleep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slāpan1reconstructed
  3. Anglian Old Englishmodernslēpan1‘to sleep’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slepen1‘to sleep’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598sleep1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sleep
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “How ſweet the moone-light ſleepes vpon this banke,[…]”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slēpanąWiktionary, English sleep‘to sleep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slāpanWiktionary, English sleepreconstructed
  3. Anglian Old EnglishmodernslēpanWiktionary, English sleep‘to sleep’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slepenWiktionary, English sleep‘to sleep’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598sleepWiktionary, English sleep. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “How ſweet the moone-light ſleepes vpon this banke,[…]”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną

Another origin of sleep

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slēpazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slāpreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150slǣp
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slepe
  5. Englishtodaysleep

Today it means

verb To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sleep”. 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-Germanic *slēpaną / sleep

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