Every English word in the tree comes from the ancient word or root at
the centre — usually reconstructed
Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of most European
and many Asian languages, spoken around 6,000 years ago. Older stages
sit on the inner rings; modern English words on the outer ring.
Reading the tree
What do the colours mean?
The family of languages a word passed through on its way to English:
-
Germanic —
Old English, Old Norse…
-
Latin & Romance — Latin, French, Italian…
- Greek
-
Other — Celtic,
Sanskrit, Slavic…
The colour is set by the first language after Proto-Indo-European,
so patriot (Greek → Latin → French → English) counts as
Greek.
Why are some lines dashed?
Wiktionary itself is unsure about that step: it says “possibly”,
“perhaps” or “?”, or offers competing theories. Click the word to
read the exact wording.
What are the faint grey lines straight from the centre?
Wiktionary names the root for these words but doesn’t say which
languages they passed through. Rather than guess a route, the site
draws none.
What’s a “surprising cognate”?
Two English words from the same ancient root that arrived by
different routes: father is native Germanic,
paternal came through Latin, patriot through
Greek. Use “Highlight on tree” in the panel to see their routes side
by side.
What does the asterisk mean, as in *ph₂tḗr?
The word is reconstructed: nobody ever wrote it down, but linguists
worked it out by comparing its descendants. The odd letters (ʰ, ₂,
ḱ) are the standard notation for its sounds.
Inherited, borrowed, derived — what’s the difference?
-
Inherited: passed down naturally from parent to
child language (Old English → English).
-
Borrowed: taken from another language (English
took beef from French).
-
Derived: formed from another word in a way the
source doesn’t spell out.
-
Formed from: built from parts, like a compound or
a word with a prefix.
What does the “+” after a word mean?
Other English words are built on it: father + includes
fatherhood, godfather and more. Click the word to
see them.
Missing or strange words
Why isn’t my word in a tree?
Only words whose ancestry Wiktionary traces back to
Proto-Indo-European get a tree — about a third of everyday
vocabulary. Words are left out when their history stops at
Proto-Germanic, when they come from another family (coffee
from Arabic, tomato from Nahuatl), when their origin is
unknown, or when the Wiktionary entry tells the history only in
plain prose the site can’t read reliably.
Search still finds these words, marked “no PIE root”: pick one to
see why, and where its traced history stops.
Why does a word appear under two different roots?
Compounds have several roots (television is a Greek part
plus a Latin part), and some words have competing theories. Each is
marked, and uncertain ones are flagged.
Why is “bear” there twice?
They are two different words spelled the same: bear the
animal and bear “to carry” have separate histories, and the
site keeps them apart.
Why are words like “reconstruction” hidden?
Words that reach a root only through a common prefix or suffix
(re-, -tion) would bury the interesting links.
Tick “Include words formed with an affix” to show them.
Accuracy
Where does this come from, and is it reliable?
Everything comes from the
English Wiktionary, extracted by
kaikki.org. Nothing is invented: if Wiktionary doesn’t state a link, it isn’t
drawn, and every hedge in its wording is shown as uncertain.
Wiktionary is written by volunteers and its quality varies, so treat
this as a map to explore rather than an authority — every step links
to the original entry.
I found a mistake. How do I report it?
If the etymology itself is wrong, fix it on Wiktionary: it will
appear here the next time the data is rebuilt.
If Wiktionary is right but the site shows it wrongly,
report it here.
How up to date is it?
It reflects a snapshot of Wiktionary; edits made since then aren’t
included yet.
Why does a Wiktionary link sometimes go to a missing page?
Old forms are often written with marks (macrons, accents) that the
page title drops, or the form has no page of its own yet. Those
steps are labelled “no page under this form”.
Using the site
How do I get around?
- Type a word in the search box (or press /).
-
Click a word for its full history; click an older form to put it
at the centre — the trail at the top leads back.
- Click a branch name to show only that branch.
-
Drag to pan; pinch or scroll to zoom. Small labels appear as you
zoom in.
Can I share what I’m looking at?
Yes — the address bar always matches the current view, including the
selected word. Copy the link.
Can I reuse the data?
Yes, under
CC BY-SA 4.0: credit Wiktionary and its contributors, and share any adaptations
under the same license.