Etymograph

English

ville

Ville comes from French ville ‘town, city’, from Latin vīlla ‘country house’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- ‘settlement’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyḱ-1‘settlement’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*weikslā1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvīlla2‘country house’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ville2‘city or town’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ville2‘city or town’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentville3‘town, city’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1702ville3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin villa
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French ville
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English ville
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1702, Thomas Marwood’s Diary: “Abᵗ 12, We left Sᵗ Malo & came to…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyḱ-Wiktionary, Latin villa‘settlement’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*weikslāWiktionary, Latin villareconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvīllaWiktionary, French ville‘country house’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400villeWiktionary, French ville‘city or town’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600villeWiktionary, French ville‘city or town’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentvilleWiktionary, English ville‘town, city’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1702villeWiktionary, English ville. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1702, Thomas Marwood’s Diary: “Abᵗ 12, We left Sᵗ Malo & came to…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- ‘settlement’

parish, ecology, vicinity, diocese, wick, parochial, 39 more

through Proto-Italic *weikslā

villain, 6 more

through Latin vīlla ‘country house’

village, villa, 7 more

Today it means

noun A Vietnamese village.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ville”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin villa, French ville. 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 *weyḱ- / ville

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