Etymograph

English

spire

Spire comes from Proto-Germanic *spīrō ‘peak’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘long, thin, sharp’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spey-1‘long, thin, sharp’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spīrō1‘peak’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spīr1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spire1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590spire1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English spire
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto V: “In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spey-Wiktionary, English spire‘long, thin, sharp’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spīrōWiktionary, English spire‘peak’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spīrWiktionary, English spire
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spireWiktionary, English spire
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590spireWiktionary, English spire. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto V: “In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘long, thin, sharp’

spike, spine, spinal, spinach, cusp, asp, buckthorn, spina, spigot, spica, aspic, 28 more

through Old English spīr

spear

Today it means

noun The stalk or stem of a plant.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “spire”. 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 *spey- / spire

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