Etymograph

English

winter

Winter comes from Middle English winter, from Old English winter, from Proto-West Germanic *wintru, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wintruz1‘winter’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wintru1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150winter1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500winter1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1584winter1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English winter
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1584, Barret: “Note that the Citie of Goa is the principall…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wintruzWiktionary, English winter‘winter’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wintruWiktionary, English winterreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150winterWiktionary, English winter
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500winterWiktionary, English winter
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1584winterWiktionary, English winter. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1584, Barret: “Note that the Citie of Goa is the principall…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- ‘to blow’

  • van ← vannus ← *watnos
  • weather ← weder ← weder ← *wedr ← *wedrą
  • athletic ← athletique ← āthlēticus ← ᾱ̓θλητῐκός ← ἀθλητής
  • wing ← winge ← vængr ← *wēingijaz
  • velocity ← vélocité ← vēlōcitās ← vēlōx ← *h₂weh₁-lo-
  • athlete ← āthlēta ← ἀθλητής ← ἀθλέω ← ἆθλον
  • ventilation ← ventilacion ← ventilatio ← ventilo ← ventulus
  • ventilate ← ventilātus

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts ‘wind’

  • event ← éventer ← *exventāre ← ventus ← *wē̆ntos
  • headwind ← *hedwind ← hēafodwind ← wind ← *wind

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos ‘wind’

  • wind ← wynd ← *windaz

11 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as spanning either the period between the winter solstice to the spring equinox, or the months of December, January, and February in temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere and the months of June, July, and August in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the time when the sun is lowest in the sky, resulting in short days, and

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “winter”. 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-Germanic *wintruz / winter