Etymograph

English

stubborn

Stubborn comes from Middle English stiborne ‘stubborn, refractory, unruly’, from Old English stybb ‘a stump, stub’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- ‘to push, to stick’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewp-1‘to push, to stick’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stubbaz2‘stump’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stubb2uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150stybb3‘a stump, stub’uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*stybbor3uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stiborne3‘stubborn, refractory, unruly’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1934stubborn3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *stubbaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English stybb
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English stubborn
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1934, Ernest Bramah: “Under his hand a stubborn latch sprung noisily […]”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewp-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *stubbaz‘to push, to stick’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stubbazWiktionary, Old English stybb‘stump’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*stubbWiktionary, Old English stybbuncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150stybbWiktionary, English stubborn‘a stump, stub’uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*stybborWiktionary, English stubbornuncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stiborneWiktionary, English stubborn‘stubborn, refractory, unruly’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1934stubbornWiktionary, English stubborn. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1934, Ernest Bramah: “Under his hand a stubborn latch sprung noisily […]”

The story

From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (‘a stump, stub’) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence English bitter).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- ‘to push, to stick’

stop, type, stuff, typical, steep, timbre, stupendous, timpani, tympanum, 19 more

Today it means

adj Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stubborn”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *stubbaz, Old English stybb. 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)tewp- / stubborn

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