Etymograph

English

veil

Veil comes from Latin vēlum ‘cloth, covering’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-1‘to bring’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wekslom1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlum2‘cloth, covering’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500veil2
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597veil2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin velum
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English veil
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “[I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-Wiktionary, Latin velum‘to bring’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wekslomWiktionary, Latin velumreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlumWiktionary, English veil‘cloth, covering’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500veilWiktionary, English veil
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597veilWiktionary, English veil. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “[I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’

way, always, via, vehicle, wave, halfway, wagon, wee, vogue, vector, weigh, wedge, headway, wag, vein, wonky, eunuch, venous, wey, waw, wain, vex, invective, vena, 40 more

through Latin vēlum ‘cloth, covering’

reveal, velar, 10 more

Today it means

noun Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “veil”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin velum. 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 *weǵʰ- / veil

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