Etymograph

English

worldwide

Worldwide is world + -wide, from wide, from Old English wīd, from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-‘to separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīdaz‘wide’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīd‘wide’
  4. English1500–presentwide
  5. English1500–present-wide‘throughout’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2023worldwide

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-‘to separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wīdaz‘wide’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīd‘wide’
  4. English1500–presentwide
  5. English1500–present-wide‘throughout’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2023worldwide

Earliest quotation: 2023, Jennifer Hansler: “The issuance of the worldwide caution alert is a…”

A compound of world + -wide

Proto-Germanic *weraldiz ‘lifetime’

Proto-West Germanic *weraldi

Old English weorold

Middle English world ‘the world’

English world

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate, divide’

division, individual, wood, device, divide, widow, devise, divisible, fid, 12 more

Today it means

adj Spanning the world; global.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- / worldwide

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