English
floor
Floor comes from Old English flōr ‘floor, pavement’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-‘flat’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂rosreconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flōraz‘ground’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flōrreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150flōr‘floor’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500floor
- Englishearliest quotation 1821floor
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-‘flat’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂rosreconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flōraz‘ground’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flōrreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150flōr‘floor’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500floor
- Englishearliest quotation 1821floor
Earliest quotation: 1821, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine: “Sam floored him perpetually, and beat his face to…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat’
field, explain, plane, explanation, plain, palm, clan, archipelago, playa, explanatory, placenta, planar, parma, fluke, palatine, esplanade, placate, plantar, implacable, pelagic, lech, flounder, veld, polonium, llano, flay, planta, purdah, floe, 49 more
Today it means
noun The interior bottom or surface of a house or building; the supporting surface of a room.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- / floor