Etymograph

English

float

Float comes from Middle English floten ‘to float’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *plewd-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plewd-‘to float, swim, fly’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flutōną‘to float’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flotōn‘to float’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flotian‘to float’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500floten‘to float’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1865float

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plewd-‘to float, swim, fly’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flutōną‘to float’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flotōn‘to float’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flotian‘to float’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500floten‘to float’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1865float

Earliest quotation: 1865, Walt Whitman, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d: “Over the tree-tops I float thee a song, /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *plewd- ‘to float, swim, fly’

lead, fleet, flit, 2 more

through Proto-Germanic *flutōną ‘to float’

flutter, 1 more

Another origin of float

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plewd-‘to fly, flow, run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flutô‘a float’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flotōreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flota‘sailor, boat’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flote‘something that floats’
  6. Englishtodayfloat

Today it means

verb To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *plewd- / float

Shirt and support for this word