Etymograph

English

spin

Spin comes from Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from PIE *(s)penh₁- ‘to stretch, spin’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)penh₁-1‘to twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spinnaną1‘to spin’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spinnan1‘to spin’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spinnen1‘to spin or convert fibre into yarn’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1599spin1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English spin
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fift: “Mount them, and make inciſion in their Hides, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)penh₁-Wiktionary, English spin‘to twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spinnanąWiktionary, English spin‘to spin’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spinnanWiktionary, English spin‘to spin’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spinnenWiktionary, English spin‘to spin or convert fibre into yarn’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1599spinWiktionary, English spin. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fift: “Mount them, and make inciſion in their Hides, /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- ‘to twist’

panic, 12 more

through Proto-Germanic *spinnaną ‘to spin’

span, spider, 4 more

Today it means

verb To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “spin”. 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 *(s)penh₁- / spin

Shirt and support for this word