English
woof
Woof comes from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- ‘to weave, braid’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*webʰ-1‘to weave, braid’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wof1
- Englishearliest quotation 1530woof1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English woof
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1530, W[illiam] T[yndale]: “When the plage of leproſye is in a cloth:…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*webʰ-Wiktionary, English woof‘to weave, braid’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wofWiktionary, English woof
- Englishearliest quotation 1530woofWiktionary, English woof. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1530, W[illiam] T[yndale]: “When the plage of leproſye is in a cloth:…”
The story
The noun is derived from Middle English wof, oof, owf (‘threads in a piece of woven fabric at right angles to the warp, weft, woof; also sometimes the warp; transverse filaments of a spider web’) [and other forms] (the forms beginning with w were influenced by warp and weft), from Old English ōwef, āwef, from ō-, ā- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; off; out’) + *wef (‘web’) (only attested in the form gewef (‘woof’); from wefan (‘to weave’), from Proto-West Germanic *weban (‘to weave’), from Proto-Germanic *webaną (‘to weave’), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (‘to braid; to weave’)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- ‘to weave, braid’
Today it means
noun The set of yarns carried by the shuttle of a loom which are placed crosswise at right angles to and interlaced with the warp; the weft.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “woof”. 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 *webʰ- / woof