Etymograph

English

wave

Wave comes from Middle English waven ‘to shake’, from Old English wafian ‘to wave’, from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- ‘to weave’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*webʰ-1‘to weave, braid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wabōną1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wabōn1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wafian1‘to wave’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500waven1‘to shake’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602wave1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English wave
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “Look, with what courteous action / It waves you…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*webʰ-Wiktionary, English wave‘to weave, braid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wabōnąWiktionary, English wavereconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wabōnWiktionary, English wavereconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wafianWiktionary, English wave‘to wave’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wavenWiktionary, English wave‘to shake’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602waveWiktionary, English wave. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “Look, with what courteous action / It waves you…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with wave, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- ‘to move to and from, wander’

  • web ← webb ← *wabi ← *wabją ← *webaną
  • whiff ← wef
  • woof ← wof
  • wasp ← wappes ← wæfs ← *wapsu ← *wapsō
  • weave ← weven ← wefan ← *weban ← *webaną
  • weft ← wefte ← wefan ← *weban ← *webaną

through Middle English waven ‘to be indecisive or unsure’

  • waffle ← waff ← waff ← wafe

5 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of wave

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-‘to drag, carry’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēgaz‘motion, storm, wave’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wǣg‘a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wawe
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500waven‘to fluctuate, wave’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*wavereconstructed
  7. Englishtodaywave

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Today it means

verb To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wave”. 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 *webʰ- / wave