Etymograph

English

worldwide

Worldwide is world + -wide, from wide, from Old English wīd, from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-1‘to separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīdaz1‘wide’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīd1‘wide’
  4. English1500–presentwide1
  5. English1500–present-wide1‘throughout’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2023worldwide1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English worldwide
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2023, Jennifer Hansler: “The issuance of the worldwide caution alert is a…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-Wiktionary, English worldwide‘to separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīdazWiktionary, English worldwide‘wide’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīdWiktionary, English worldwide‘wide’
  4. English1500–presentwideWiktionary, English worldwide
  5. English1500–present-wideWiktionary, English worldwide‘throughout’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2023worldwideWiktionary, English worldwide. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2023, Jennifer Hansler: “The issuance of the worldwide caution alert is a…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate, divide’

  • division ← divisioun ← dīvīsiō ← dīvīsus ← dīvidō
  • individual ← indīviduālis ← indīviduum ← indīviduus ← dīviduus
  • wood ← wode ← wudu ← widu ← *widu
  • device ← devis ← devis ← dīvīsus ← dīvidō
  • divide ← dividen ← dīvidō ← *vidō ← *wiðō
  • widow ← widwe ← widuwe ← *widuwā ← *widuwǭ
  • devise ← devisen ← deviser ← devisō ← dīvīsus
  • divisible ← divisibilis ← divido ← *vidō ← *wiðō
  • fid ← *widus

12 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Spanning the world; global.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “worldwide”. 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 *h₁weydʰh₁- / worldwide