Etymograph

English

trade

Trade comes from Middle English trade ‘path’, from Middle Low German trade ‘track’, from Old Saxon trada, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- ‘to tread’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dreh₂-1‘to tread, walk, run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tradō1‘track, way’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tradu1reconstructed
  4. Old Saxonc. 800–1200trada1‘spoor, track’
  5. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600trade1‘track, course’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trade1‘path, course of conduct’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1545trade1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English trade
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1545, Nicholas Udall, Paraphrase on Luke: “The Jewes, emong whom alone and no moe, God…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dreh₂-Wiktionary, English trade‘to tread, walk, run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tradōWiktionary, English trade‘track, way’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*traduWiktionary, English tradereconstructed
  4. Old Saxonc. 800–1200tradaWiktionary, English trade‘spoor, track’
  5. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600tradeWiktionary, English trade‘track, course’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tradeWiktionary, English trade‘path, course of conduct’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1545tradeWiktionary, English trade. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1545, Nicholas Udall, Paraphrase on Luke: “The Jewes, emong whom alone and no moe, God…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with trade, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- ‘to run’

  • trot ← trotten ← trotter ← *trottō ← *trottōn
  • drow ← *drou ← draugr ← troll ← trǫll
  • trow ← *drou ← draugr ← troll ← trǫll

1 more relative in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The buying and selling of goods and services on a market.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “trade”. 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 *dreh₂- / trade