Etymograph

English

teach

Teach comes from Middle English techen, from Old English tǣċan ‘to show, teach’, from Proto-Germanic *taikijaną ‘to show’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- ‘to show’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deyḱ-1‘to show’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*taikijaną1‘to show’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*taikijan1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tǣċan1‘to show’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500techen1‘to teach’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1485teach1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English teach
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory: “So thus within a whyle as they thus talked…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deyḱ-Wiktionary, English teach‘to show’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*taikijanąWiktionary, English teach‘to show’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*taikijanWiktionary, English teachreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tǣċanWiktionary, English teach‘to show’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500techenWiktionary, English teach‘to teach’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1485teachWiktionary, English teach. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory: “So thus within a whyle as they thus talked…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- ‘to show’

index, indicate, predict, toe, indication, dictionary, indicator, token, digit, addict, dictator, indicative, contradictory, contradiction, ditto, contradict, dictate, syndicate, diction, predicate, ditty, dictum, syndicalism, dict, indicia, tache, 34 more

Today it means

verb To pass on knowledge to.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “teach”. 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 *deyḱ- / teach

Shirt and support for this word