Etymograph

English

soon

Soon comes from Middle English sone, from Old English sōna ‘immediately, at once’, from Proto-Germanic *sēna, from the demonstrative *sa, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *só ‘this’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*só1‘this’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sa1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sēna1‘immediately, soon, then’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sān(ō)1‘immediately’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150sōna1‘immediately, at once’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sone1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1611soon1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English soon
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “How is it that ye are come so soon…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sóWiktionary, English soon‘this’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*saWiktionary, English soonreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sēnaWiktionary, English soon‘immediately, soon, then’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sān(ō)Wiktionary, English soon‘immediately’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150sōnaWiktionary, English soon‘immediately, at once’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500soneWiktionary, English soon
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1611soonWiktionary, English soon. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “How is it that ye are come so soon…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *só ‘this’

  • then ← then(ne) ← þonne ← *þan ← *þan
  • these ← þes ← þas ← *þes- ← *sa
  • sic ← sīce ← sī ← *sei
  • tandem ← tam ← *sei
  • contamination ← contāminātiō ← contāminō ← *tāmen ← tam
  • thereabouts ← there-aboutes ← þǣr ← *þār ← *þar
  • contaminate ← contaminaten ← contaminat ← contāminātus ← contāminō
  • tanto ← tantus ← tam ← *sei
  • contaminant ← contaminer ← contaminō ← *tāmen ← tam

6 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Short in length of time from the present.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “soon”. 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 *só / soon