Etymograph

English

stretch

Stretch comes from Middle English strecchen, from Old English streċċan ‘to stretch, extend’, from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan ‘to make taut’, from PIE *(s)treg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)treg-1‘stiff, rigid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*strakkjan1‘to stretch, make taut’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150streċċan1‘to stretch, extend’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strecchen1‘to stretch out, extend’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1659stretch1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English stretch
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1659, Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall: “The inner membrane […] because it would stretch and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)treg-Wiktionary, English stretch‘stiff, rigid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*strakkjanWiktionary, English stretch‘to stretch, make taut’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150streċċanWiktionary, English stretch‘to stretch, extend’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strecchenWiktionary, English stretch‘to stretch out, extend’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1659stretchWiktionary, English stretch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1659, Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall: “The inner membrane […] because it would stretch and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-

strenuous, 3 more

through Middle English strecchen ‘to stretch out, spread, extend’

straight

Today it means

verb To lengthen by pulling.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stretch”. 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)treg- / stretch

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