Etymograph

English

sortkey

From sort + key.

A compound of sort + key

Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to bind’

…

Latin sors ‘lot’

Latin sortem

Old French sorte ‘class’

Middle English sort

English sort

Proto-West Germanic *kaiju

Old English cǣġ ‘key’

Middle English keye ‘a key’

English key

Today it means

noun A key (field or value) by which data items are sorted.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sortkey”. 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 / sortkey