Etymograph

English

dent

Dent comes from Middle English dent ‘a blow’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- ‘to strike, hit’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰen-‘to strike, hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*duntiz‘a blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*duntireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dynt‘blow, strike, the mark or noise of a blow’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dent‘a blow’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1990same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰen-‘to strike, hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*duntiz‘a blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*duntireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dynt‘blow, strike, the mark or noise of a blow’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dent‘a blow’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1990same form

Earliest quotation: 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders: “Case Of You" (#67, 1980), a single on the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- ‘to strike, hit’

ding, 3 more

through Old English dynt ‘blow, strike, the mark or noise of a blow’

dint, 1 more

Another origin of dent

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ed-‘to bite’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃dónts‘tooth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dents‘tooth’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēns‘tooth’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentdent‘tooth’
  6. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- / dent

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