English

in

/ən/
Contained by; inside.

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    PIE word

    *h₁en

    Preposition and verb from Middle English in, from Old English in, from Proto-Germanic *in.

    Adverb, noun and adjective from Middle English in, from Old English inn and inne, from Proto-Germanic *innai.

    Sense 1/2 "in"/"into" are from the original PIE prefix, with locative/accusative case respectively. Sense 3/4 "qualification"/"means" are from the PIE metaphor of all infinitives coming from locatives.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishin
      • inheritedOld Englishin “in”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*in
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*in
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*h₁én “in”
              • derived (ultimately)Proto-Indo-European*h₁ey- “to go”

    Words built on it: the, into, come in, in-state, in between, end in, put in, -in-law, within, in-kind, live-in, instead of

    Sources