English
strike
Strike comes from Middle English stryken ‘to strike’, from Old English strīcan ‘to pass lightly over, stroke, smooth, rub’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *streyg-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*streyg-1‘to stroke’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*strīkaną1‘to stroke’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*strīkan1‘to stroke’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150strīcan1‘to pass lightly over’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stryken1‘to strike’
- Englishearliest quotation 1567strike1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English strike
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Thomas Harman, The vpright Coſe cateth to the Roge. [The Upright Man speake: “Now we haue well bousd, let vs strike some…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*streyg-Wiktionary, English strike‘to stroke’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*strīkanąWiktionary, English strike‘to stroke’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*strīkanWiktionary, English strike‘to stroke’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150strīcanWiktionary, English strike‘to pass lightly over’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strykenWiktionary, English strike‘to strike’
- Englishearliest quotation 1567strikeWiktionary, English strike. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Thomas Harman, The vpright Coſe cateth to the Roge. [The Upright Man speake: “Now we haue well bousd, let vs strike some…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *streyg- ‘to stroke, rub, press’
streak, distress, stroke, restraint, stringent, stricture, 7 more
through Proto-Germanic *strīkaną ‘to stroke, to rub’
Today it means
verb To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “strike”. 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 *streyg- / strike