Etymograph

English

tear

Tear (to rip) comes from Middle English teren, from Old English teran ‘to tear, lacerate’, from Proto-Germanic *teraną, from PIE *der- ‘to tear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*der-‘to tear, tear apart’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*teraną‘to tear, rip’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150teran‘to tear, lacerate’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500teren‘to tear’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1913tear

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*der-‘to tear, tear apart’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*teraną‘to tear, rip’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150teran‘to tear, lacerate’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500teren‘to tear’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1913tear

Earliest quotation: 1913, Joseph Crosby Lincoln, New York: “Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *der- ‘to tear, tear apart’

truck, turd, dermatology, dermatitis, pander, dermis, derm, tarn, 16 more

through Proto-Germanic *teraną ‘to tear, tear apart, rip’

retirement, tier, retire, tire, terry, tart, tirade, 5 more

Another origin of tear

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dáḱru-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tahrąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tahr‘tear (eye liquid)’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150teagor
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tear
  6. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

verb To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *der- / tear

Shirt and support for this word