Etymograph

English

weave

Weave comes from Middle English weven ‘to weave’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*webʰ-1‘to weave, braid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*webaną1‘to weave’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*weban1‘to weave’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wefan1‘to weave’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500weven1‘to weave’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606weave1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English weave
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “This weaves itself, perforce, into my business.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*webʰ-Wiktionary, English weave‘to weave, braid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*webanąWiktionary, English weave‘to weave’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*webanWiktionary, English weave‘to weave’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wefanWiktionary, English weave‘to weave’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wevenWiktionary, English weave‘to weave’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606weaveWiktionary, English weave. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “This weaves itself, perforce, into my business.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- ‘to weave, braid’

wave, wasp, waffle, whiff, woof, 5 more

through Proto-Germanic *webaną ‘to weave’

web

through Old English wefan ‘to weave’

weft

Another origin of weave

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyp-‘to shake, swing’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*woypéyetiuncertaincausative of *weyp-
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*waibijaną‘to wind (around), wrap’uncertain
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350veifa‘move around, wave’uncertain
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500weven‘to wander’
  6. Englishtodayweave

From Middle English weven (‘to wander’); probably from Old Norse veifa (‘move around, wave’), related to Latin vibrare.

Today it means

verb To form something by passing lengths or strands of material over and under one another.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “weave”. 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- / weave

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