Etymograph

English

uptime

Uptime comes from Middle English tyme ‘the concept of time or duration’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dh₂i-mon-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dh₂i-mon-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tīmô1‘time’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tīmō1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tīma1‘a time, hour’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tyme1‘the concept of time or duration’
  6. English1500–presenttime1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2006uptime1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English uptime
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Fred K. Geitner and Heinz P. Bloch, Elsevier: “To achieve uptime optimization, the machinery specification and actual…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dh₂i-mon-Wiktionary, English uptimereconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tīmôWiktionary, English uptime‘time’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tīmōWiktionary, English uptimereconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tīmaWiktionary, English uptime‘a time, hour’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tymeWiktionary, English uptime‘the concept of time or duration’
  6. English1500–presenttimeWiktionary, English uptime
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2006uptimeWiktionary, English uptime. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Fred K. Geitner and Heinz P. Bloch, Elsevier: “To achieve uptime optimization, the machinery specification and actual…”

Linked words

through Middle English tyme ‘the concept of time or duration’

thyme, 2 more

Today it means

noun The period of time a computer has functioned since last requiring a reboot.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “uptime”. 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 *dh₂i-mon- / uptime

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