Etymograph

English

tread

Tread comes from Middle English treden ‘to stomp or walk with great force’, from Old English tredan ‘to tread’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *trudaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trudaną1‘to tread, to step on’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tredan1‘to tread’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150tredan1‘to tread’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500treden1‘to stomp or walk with great force’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596tread1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tread
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “They have measured many a mile, / To tread…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trudanąWiktionary, English tread‘to tread, to step on’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tredanWiktionary, English tread‘to tread’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150tredanWiktionary, English tread‘to tread’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tredenWiktionary, English tread‘to stomp or walk with great force’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596treadWiktionary, English tread. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “They have measured many a mile, / To tread…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *trudaną ‘to tread, to step on’

troll, droll, trine, 2 more

Another origin of tread

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500treden‘to tread’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tred‘the trail or signs left by travel’
  3. Englishtodaytread

Today it means

verb To step or walk (on or across something); to trample.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tread”. 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-Germanic *trudaną / tread

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