English
back
Back comes from Middle English bak ‘the back, hind, or rear of a being's body’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *baką.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baką‘back’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bakreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150bæc
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bak‘the back’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597back
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baką‘back’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bakreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150bæc
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bak‘the back’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597back
Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “I will back him [a horse] straight.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- ‘to bend’
bank, bitch, beach, bench, petite, banquet, petit, banco, bicker, banque, bichon, 7 more
through Proto-Germanic *baką ‘back, rear’
through Old English bæc
Another origin of back
- Frenchc. 1600–presentbac
- Englishtodayback
Today it means
adj At or near the rear.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *baką / back