Etymograph

English

tree

Tree comes from Old English trēo ‘tree’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dóru.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dóru1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trewą1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*treu1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēo1‘tree’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trau1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611tree1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tree
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Ste[phano]. Trinculo, keepe a good tongue in your head:…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dóruWiktionary, English treereconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*trewąWiktionary, English treereconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*treuWiktionary, English treereconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēoWiktionary, English tree‘tree’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trauWiktionary, English tree
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611treeWiktionary, English tree. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Ste[phano]. Trinculo, keepe a good tongue in your head:…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dóru

trough, dory, druid, dinghy, dendritic, larch, dendrite, 5 more

Today it means

noun A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tree”. 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 *dóru / tree

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