Etymograph

English

who

Who comes from Old English hwā ‘who’, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz ‘who, what’, and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European interrogative root *kʷ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷ-1‘interrogative root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷos1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hwaz1‘who’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hwaʀ1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hwā1‘who’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500who1‘who’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604who1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English who
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello: “Ia[go]. Hee’s married. Caſ[ſio]. To who? […] Ia[go]. Marry…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷ-Wiktionary, English who‘interrogative root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷosWiktionary, English whoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hwazWiktionary, English who‘who’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hwaʀWiktionary, English whoreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hwāWiktionary, English who‘who’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500whoWiktionary, English who‘who’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604whoWiktionary, English who. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello: “Ia[go]. Hee’s married. Caſ[ſio]. To who? […] Ia[go]. Marry…”

The story

The sound change /hw/ > /h/ (without a corresponding change in spelling) was due to wh-cluster reduction after an irregular change of /ɑː/ to /oː/ in Middle English (instead of the expected /ɔː/) and further to /uː/ regularly in Early Modern English. A similar change occurred in two.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- ‘the primary interrogative root’

  • what ← hwæt ← *hwat ← *hwat ← *kʷís
  • when ← when(ne) ← hwonne ← *hwannē ← *hwan
  • how ← hū ← *hwō ← *hwō ← *kʷís
  • why ← hwȳ ← *hwiu ← *hwī ← *kʷey
  • quantity ← quantite ← quantité ← quantitās ← quantus
  • ubiquitous ← ubīquitās ← ubīque ← ubī̆ ← cubī
  • quip ← quippe ← quid ← *kʷid ← *kʷid
  • ubiquity ← ubīquitās ← ubīque ← ubī̆ ← cubī

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷos

  • neutral ← neutrālis ← neuter ← uter ← *kʷoteros
  • elsewhere ← elswher ← elles hwǣr ← hwerġen ← *hwargin
  • rapunzel ← raponzolo ← rapa ← rāpa ← neuter
  • whither ← whider ← hwider ← *hwadrê

24 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

pron What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “who”. 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 *kʷ- / who