Etymograph

English

wrong

Wrong comes from Middle English wrong, from late Old English wrang ‘wrong, twisted’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrangaz ‘crooked, twisted’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrangaz1‘crooked, twisted, turned awry’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrang1uncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrang1‘wrong, twisted, uneven’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrong1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592wrong1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English wrong
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “I blame not her: she could say little less;…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrangazWiktionary, English wrong‘crooked, twisted, turned awry’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrangWiktionary, English wronguncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrangWiktionary, English wrong‘wrong, twisted, uneven’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrongWiktionary, English wrong
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592wrongWiktionary, English wrong. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “I blame not her: she could say little less;…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Germanic *wringaną ‘to wring’

  • wrench ← wrenchen ← wrenċan ← *wrankijan ← *wrankijaną
  • wring ← wringan ← *wringan

5 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Incorrect or untrue.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wrong”. 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-Germanic *wrangaz / wrong