Etymograph

English

thew

Thew may come from Old English þēaw ‘general practice of a community, custom, usage’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- ‘to stand (up)’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-1‘to stand (up)’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tāu-1uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þawwaz1‘custom’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þauw1uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150þēaw1‘general practice of a community, custom, usage’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500theu1uncertain
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1599thew1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuch
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth: “[C]are I for the limbe, the thevves, the ſtature,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-Wiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuch‘to stand (up)’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tāu-Wiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuchuncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þawwazWiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuch‘custom’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þauwWiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuchuncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150þēawWiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuch‘general practice of a community, custom, usage’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500theuWiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuchuncertain
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1599thewWiktionary, English thew, which cites Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth: “[C]are I for the limbe, the thevves, the ſtature,…”

The story

From Middle English theu, thew (‘way of behaving towards others, bearing, manners; habit, practice; good manners, courtesy; characteristic act; characteristic, trait; custom, tradition; established rule, ordinance; injunction; moral character; (in the plural) set of moral principles, morals; moral quality, virtue or vice; might, power, strength’) [and other forms] (often in the plural form theus, thewes), from Old English þēaw (‘general practice of a community, custom, usage; mode of conduct, behaviour, manner; (in the plural) customs, virtue’) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *þauw, from Proto-Germanic *þawwaz (‘custom; habit’); further etymology uncertain, tentatively identified by the Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (Etymological Dictionary of Old High German) as a reflex of an s-less variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)tāu-, *(s)te- (‘to stand; to place’), from *steh₂- (‘to stand (up)’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- ‘to stand (up)’

state, system, post, stay, rest, stand, distance, assistant, stadium, assistance, instance, stood, constitution, contest, consistent, stable, establish, assist, instant, stability, stem, destination, substance, resist, destiny, distant, testimony, static, insist, consist, persistent, stud, prostitution, stationary, prostitute, persist, stool, stale, substitution, stamina, 157 more

Today it means

noun An attractive physical attribute; also, physical, mental, or moral strength or vigour.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “thew”. 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 *steh₂- / thew

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