Etymograph

English

stone

Stone comes from Middle English ston ‘a stone, boulder, or pebble’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- ‘to stiffen’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steyh₂-1‘to stiffen’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stóyh₂nos1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stainaz1reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stain1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150stān1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ston1‘a stone’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595stone1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English stone
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet: “[…]and yet I warrant it had vpon it brow,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steyh₂-Wiktionary, English stone‘to stiffen’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stóyh₂nosWiktionary, English stonereconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stainazWiktionary, English stonereconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stainWiktionary, English stonereconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150stānWiktionary, English stone
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stonWiktionary, English stone‘a stone’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595stoneWiktionary, English stone. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet: “[…]and yet I warrant it had vpon it brow,…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Germanic *stainaz

  • stain ← steinen ← steina ← ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ
  • stony ← stāniġ ← *stainag ← *stainagaz

through Proto-West Germanic *stain

6 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of stone

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stainōną‘to stone’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stainōnreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*stānian‘to stone’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stonen
  5. Englishtodaystone

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Today it means

noun A hard earthen substance that can form rocks; especially, such substance when regarded as a building material.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stone”. 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 *steyh₂- / stone