English

death

/dɛθ/
The cessation of life and all associated processes; the end of an organism's existence as an entity independent from its environment and its return to an inert, non-living state.

    Etymology graph

    • inherited
    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
    React Flow

    Click a node to zoom in · double-click to open it

    Origin

    From Middle English deth, deeth, from Old English dēaþ, from Proto-West Germanic *dauþu, from Proto-Germanic *dauþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰówtus. More at die.

    Cognates

    Cognate with Scots daeth, daith, death, deeth, deith (“death”), North Frisian Duar, duas, düüs (“death”), Saterland Frisian Dood (“death”), West Frisian dea (“death”), Dutch dood (“death”), German Tod, Todt (“death”), Limburgish doead (“death”), Luxembourgish Doud (“death”), Yiddish טויט (toyt, “death”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål død (“death”), Faroese deyði (“death”), Icelandic dauði (“death”), Norwegian Nynorsk daude, død (“death”), Swedish död (“death”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌿𐍃 (dauþus, “death”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*dʰew- “to die”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishdeth
      • inheritedOld Englishdēaþ “death”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*dauþu
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*dauþuz
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*dʰówtus

    Related: Scots daeth, North Frisian Duar, Saterland Frisian Dood, West Frisian dea, Dutch dood, German Tod, Limburgish doead, Luxembourgish Doud, Yiddish טויט, da,nb død, Faroese deyði, Icelandic dauði, Norwegian Nynorsk daude, Swedish död, Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌿𐍃

    Sources