English
wire
Wire comes from Old English wīr ‘wire, metal thread, wire-ornament’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- ‘to turn, twist, weave, plait’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₁y-‘to turn’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₁iros‘a twist’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīrazreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wīr‘wire’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wir
- Englishearliest quotation 1869wire
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₁y-‘to turn’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₁iros‘a twist’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīrazreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wīr‘wire’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wir
- Englishearliest quotation 1869wire
Earliest quotation: 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: “Over the forehead is a large patch of pure…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- ‘to turn, twist, weave, plait’
with, weak, novel, wine, vinyl, vine, iris, vise, vino, vignette, vetch, 29 more
Today it means
noun Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- / wire