Etymograph

English

wash

Wash comes from Middle English wasshen ‘to wash’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘wet, water’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-1‘wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*waskaną1‘to wash’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*waskan1‘to wash’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wascan1‘to wash’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wasshen1‘to wash’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596wash1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English wash
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Iohn: “These Lincoln washes have devoured them.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-Wiktionary, English wash‘wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*waskanąWiktionary, English wash‘to wash’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*waskanWiktionary, English wash‘to wash’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wascanWiktionary, English wash‘to wash’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wasshenWiktionary, English wash‘to wash’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596washWiktionary, English wash. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Iohn: “These Lincoln washes have devoured them.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘wet, water’

water, wet, und, abundance, vodka, surround, abundant, hydro, redundant, otter, hydrate, vitriol, dishwasher, hydride, vitreous, aldehyde, vedra, inundate, undine, unwashed, 42 more

through Proto-Germanic *waskaną ‘to wash, get wet’

gash, 3 more

Today it means

verb To clean with water.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wash”. 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 *wed- / wash

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