Etymograph

English

blow

Blow comes from Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan ‘to blow, breathe’, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną ‘to blow’, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-‘to blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēaną‘to blow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blāan‘to blow’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blāwan‘to blow, breathe’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowen‘to blow’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597blow

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰel-‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-‘to blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēaną‘to blow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blāan‘to blow’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blāwan‘to blow, breathe’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowen‘to blow’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597blow

Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “Rob. Miſtris Ford, Miſtris Ford: heere's Miſtris Page at…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to swell, blow up’

inflation, flavor, blast, flux, fluent, bliss, bladder, confluence, fluency, inflate, feeble, flatulence, fluvial, conflate, soufflé, blithely, blare, blather, blasé, bleat, 45 more

Another origin of blow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlēw-‘yellow, blond, grey’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēwaz‘blue, dark blue, grey, black’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blāureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blāw‘blue’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blo‘blueness’
  6. Englishtodayblow

Another origin of blow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mlew-uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*mléw-e-uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blewwaną‘to beat’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowe
  5. Englishtodayblow

Another origin of blow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₃-‘bloom, flower’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blōaną‘to bloom, to flower’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150blōwan‘to flower, blossom, bloom’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blowen‘to blossom’
  5. Englishtodayblow

Today it means

verb To produce an air current.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- / blow

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