Etymograph

English

victim

Victim comes from Latin victima ‘sacrificial animal’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to sift, separate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-1‘to sift’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvictima1‘sacrificial animal’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600victime1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1838victim1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English victim
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1838, The Lady's Book: “The villian, perceiving his danger, groped about in search…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-Wiktionary, English victim‘to sift’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvictimaWiktionary, English victim‘sacrificial animal’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600victimeWiktionary, English victim
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1838victimWiktionary, English victim. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1838, The Lady's Book: “The villian, perceiving his danger, groped about in search…”

The story

Although this root and victor drive from homophonous PIE roots, they are traditionally reconstructed as separate words and thus not cognates.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to sift, separate’

province, weakness, witch, victory, convince, iconic, icon, wicked, wo, victor, conviction, invincible, wight, weakly, convict, vicar, vanquish, wile, eviction, ancona, waw, evict, 32 more

Today it means

noun One that is harmed—killed, injured, subjected to oppression, deceit, or otherwise adversely affected—by someone or something, especially another person or event, force, or condition; in particular

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “victim”. 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 *weyk- / victim

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