Etymograph

English

wrixle

Wrixle comes from Old English wrixlan ‘to change, exchange, reciprocate’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyk-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-1‘to change’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wihslijaną1‘to change’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wihslijan2reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrixlan1‘to change, exchange, reciprocate’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrixlen1
  6. Englishtodaywrixle1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English wrixle
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English wrixlan

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-Wiktionary, English wrixle‘to change’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wihslijanąWiktionary, English wrixle‘to change’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wihslijanWiktionary, Old English wrixlanreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrixlanWiktionary, English wrixle‘to change, exchange, reciprocate’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrixlenWiktionary, English wrixle
  6. EnglishtodaywrixleWiktionary, English wrixle

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to change’

victory, victim, province, convince, weakness, victor, icon, conviction, witch, wicked, wo, convict, eviction, vicar, invincible, wight, weakly, evict, vanquish, ancona, waw, wile, 32 more

Today it means

verb To exchange.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wrixle”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English wrixlan. 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 *weyk- / wrixle

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