Etymograph

English

win

Win comes from Middle English winnen, from Old English winnan ‘to labour, toil’, from Proto-Germanic *winnaną ‘to labour, win, gain’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- ‘to strive, desire’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wenh₁-1‘to strive, wish, desire, love’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*winnaną2‘to labour, win, gain, fight’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*winnan2‘to strive’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150winnan1‘to labour, toil’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500winnen1‘to exert effort’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1485win1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English win
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English winnan
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur: “For and we doo bataille we two wyl fyghte…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wenh₁-Wiktionary, English win‘to strive, wish, desire, love’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*winnanąWiktionary, Old English winnan‘to labour, win, gain, fight’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*winnanWiktionary, Old English winnan‘to strive’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150winnanWiktionary, English win‘to labour, toil’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500winnenWiktionary, English win‘to exert effort’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1485winWiktionary, English win. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur: “For and we doo bataille we two wyl fyghte…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wen- ‘to win, achieve, overcome’

wound

through Old English winnan ‘to labour, swink, toil,’

won

through Middle English winnen ‘to exert effort, strive for’

winner

Another origin of win

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wenh₁-‘to strive, desire, wish, love’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*winną‘labour, struggle, fight’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150winn‘toil, labor, trouble, hardship’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500winn
  5. Englishtodaywin

Another origin of win

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wenh₁-‘to strive, wish, desire, love’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wunjō‘joy, delight, pleasure, lust’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wunnju‘joy’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wynn‘joy, rapture, pleasure, delight, gladness’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wynne‘happiness, pleasure, delight’
  6. Englishtodaywin

Today it means

verb To conquer, defeat.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “win”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English winnan. 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 *wenh₁- / win

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