Etymograph

English

stream

Stream comes from Old English strēam, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz ‘stream’, from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos ‘river’, from *srew- ‘to flow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*srew-1‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*srowmos1‘river’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*straumaz1reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*straum1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150strēam1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500streem1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1667stream1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English stream
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book VII: “beneath those banks where rivers now stream”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*srew-Wiktionary, English stream‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*srowmosWiktionary, English stream‘river’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*straumazWiktionary, English streamreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*straumWiktionary, English streamreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150strēamWiktionary, English stream
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500streemWiktionary, English stream
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1667streamWiktionary, English stream. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book VII: “beneath those banks where rivers now stream”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to flow’

service, series, sort, serve, hero, conservative, desert, insert, reservoir, assertion, sermon, conservatism, exert, assertive, heresy, 46 more

through Proto-Indo-European *srew- ‘to flow’

rhythm, 49 more

Today it means

noun A small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stream”. 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 *srew- / stream

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