Etymograph

English

lean

Lean comes from Middle English lenen ‘to lean’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱley-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlināną‘to lean, incline’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hlinēn‘to lean’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hleonian‘to lean, recline, lie down, rest’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lenen‘to lean’
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1600lean

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱley-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlināną‘to lean, incline’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hlinēn‘to lean’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hleonian‘to lean, recline, lie down, rest’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lenen‘to lean’
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1600lean

Earliest quotation: a. 1600, Edmund Spenser, A View of the State of Ireland. […]: “But you ſay they do not accept of them,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-

law, low, climate, decline, ladder, lid, climax, inclination, incline, eyelid, cline, clinician, proclivity, declination, declension, 26 more

through Middle English lenen ‘to lean’

lend

Another origin of lean

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱley-‘to lean’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlināną‘to lean’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlainijaną‘to cause to lean’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hlǣnan‘to cause to lean’uncertain
  5. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150hlǣne
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lene
  7. Englishtodaylean

If so, then related to Old English hlinian, hleonian (‘to lean’).

Today it means

verb To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- / lean

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