Etymograph

English

withgo

Withgo comes from Middle English withgon ‘to be in opposition to, vanish’, from Old English gān ‘to go’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-1‘to leave’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gāną1‘to go, walk’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gān1‘to go’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150gān2‘to go’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150wiþgān3‘to go against, oppose, pass away, vanish, disappear’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500withgon3‘to be in opposition to, vanish’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1895withgo3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English gan
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English wiþgan
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English withgo
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1895, Aroda Reym: “[...] In the name of all that is dear…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-Wiktionary, Old English gan‘to leave’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gānąWiktionary, Old English gan‘to go, walk’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gānWiktionary, Old English gan‘to go’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150gānWiktionary, Old English wiþgan‘to go’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150wiþgānWiktionary, English withgo‘to go against, oppose, pass away, vanish, disappear’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500withgonWiktionary, English withgo‘to be in opposition to, vanish’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1895withgoWiktionary, English withgo. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1895, Aroda Reym: “[...] In the name of all that is dear…”

Formed from with- + go

Proto-Germanic *wiþi- ‘counter-, anti-, gain-, with-’

Proto-West Germanic *wiþi- ‘counter-, anti-, gain-, with-’

English with-

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave’

Proto-Germanic *gāną ‘to go’

Proto-West Germanic *gān ‘to go’

Old English gān ‘to go’

Middle English gon

English go

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave’

heritage, heir, hereditary, inherit, heredity, 19 more

through Old English gān ‘to go’

go, gone, forego, 2 more

Today it means

verb To go against; oppose; transgress.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “withgo”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old English gan, Old English wiþgan. 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 *ǵʰeh₁- / withgo

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