Etymograph

English

tray

Tray comes from Middle English trey ‘a tray’, from Proto-Germanic *trawją ‘wooden vessel’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *drewo- ‘tree’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drewo-1‘tree’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trawją1‘wooden vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*trauwi1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēġ1‘wooden board, tray’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trey1‘a tray’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1963tray1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tray
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “Now that she had rested and had fed from…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drewo-Wiktionary, English tray‘tree’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trawjąWiktionary, English tray‘wooden vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*trauwiWiktionary, English trayreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēġWiktionary, English tray‘wooden board, tray’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500treyWiktionary, English tray‘a tray’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1963trayWiktionary, English tray. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “Now that she had rested and had fed from…”

Linked words

through Middle English trey ‘a tray’

trey

Today it means

noun A small, typically rectangular or round, flat, and rigid object upon which things are carried.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tray”. 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 *drewo- / tray

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