Etymograph

English

thatch

Thatch comes from Old English þæc ‘roof-covering’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)teg-1‘cover’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þaką1‘covering’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þak1‘roof, cover’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þæc1‘roof-covering’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thache1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1989thatch1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English thatch
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1989, Octavia E. Butler, Part III, Chapter 7: “Just over halfway up, we reached the Human settlement…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)teg-Wiktionary, English thatch‘cover’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þakąWiktionary, English thatch‘covering’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þakWiktionary, English thatch‘roof, cover’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þæcWiktionary, English thatch‘roof-covering’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thacheWiktionary, English thatch
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1989thatchWiktionary, English thatch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1989, Octavia E. Butler, Part III, Chapter 7: “Just over halfway up, we reached the Human settlement…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- ‘cover’

detective, detection, detect, tile, sauna, thug, toga, staccato, toque, 27 more

through Proto-Germanic *þaką ‘covering’

deck, 1 more

Another origin of thatch

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tog-o-sreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þaką‘cover, covering’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þakjaną‘to cover’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þakkjanreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150þeċċan‘to cover’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thacchen‘to thatch’
  7. Englishtodaythatch

Today it means

noun Straw, rushes, or similar, used for making or covering the roofs of buildings, or of stacks of hay or grain.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “thatch”. 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)teg- / thatch

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