English
with
With comes from Old English wiþ ‘against, opposite, toward’, whose sense shifted to ‘with’ in Middle English, perhaps a shortening of Proto-Germanic *wiþrą ‘against’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wí ‘apart’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wí1‘apart’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wíterom1reconstructedadverbial accusative of *wí
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wiþrą2‘against’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wiþi2reconstructedshortened form of *wiþrą
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wiþi2‘toward’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wiþ2‘against’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500with2
- Englishearliest quotation 1590with2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wiþrą
- 2 Wiktionary, English with
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Sir Philip Sidney: “With that she told me that though she spake…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wíWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wiþrą‘apart’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wíteromWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wiþrąreconstructedadverbial accusative of *wí
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wiþrąWiktionary, English with‘against’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wiþiWiktionary, English withreconstructedshortened form of *wiþrą
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wiþiWiktionary, English with‘toward’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wiþWiktionary, English with‘against’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500withWiktionary, English with
- Englishearliest quotation 1590withWiktionary, English with. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Sir Philip Sidney: “With that she told me that though she spake…”
The story
In Middle English, the word shifted to denote association rather than opposition, displacing Middle English mid (‘with’), from Old English mid (‘with’), from Proto-Germanic *midi; an earlier model of this meaning shift exists in cognate Old Norse við; elsewhere, the converse meaning shift is exemplified by Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩺𐩬 (byn, “between, amid”) spawning Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “against”) and even likewise frequent reverse meaning 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “from”).
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with with, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *dwi- ‘apart, asunder’
23 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of with
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₁y-‘to wind, twist, bend, turn’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyt-‘something twisted, rod, switch, whip’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wiþjǭ‘rope, cord’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wiþþe‘tie, band’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500withe
- Englishtodaywith
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Today it means
prep Against.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “with”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *wiþrą. 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 *wí / with