Etymograph

English

weekly

Weekly comes from Middle English wyke ‘week’, from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ ‘sequence’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyg- ‘to bend, wind, turn, yield’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyg-1‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wikǭ2‘sequence’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wikā2‘week’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wice2‘week’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wyke3‘week’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wykely4
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2020weekly4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wikǭ
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English wyke
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Middle English wykely
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English weekly
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2020, Miriam Jordan, Migrant Workers Restricted to Farms Under One Grower’s Virus: “In Virginia, gone are the weekly outings to Walmart…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyg-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wikǭ‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wikǭWiktionary, Middle English wyke‘sequence’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wikāWiktionary, Middle English wyke‘week’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wiceWiktionary, Middle English wyke‘week’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wykeWiktionary, Middle English wykely‘week’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wykelyWiktionary, English weekly
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2020weeklyWiktionary, English weekly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2020, Miriam Jordan, Migrant Workers Restricted to Farms Under One Grower’s Virus: “In Virginia, gone are the weekly outings to Walmart…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *weyg- ‘to bend, wind, turn, yield’

  • weak ← waik ← veikr ← *waikwaz ← *wīkwaną
  • wick ← wike ← *vík ← *wīkō

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adv Once every week.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “weekly”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *wikǭ, Middle English wyke, Middle English wykely. 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 *weyg- / weekly