Etymology

at

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Today it means: In, near, or in the general vicinity of (a particular place). Full definition →

Middle English at ← Old English æt ← Proto-Germanic *at
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  2. Proto-Germanic*at
  3. Old Englishæt
  4. Middle Englishat
  5. English todayat

From Middle English at, from Old English æt (“at, near, by, toward”), from Proto-West Germanic *at, from Proto-Germanic *at (“at, near, to”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“near, at”). Cognate with Scots at (“at”), North Frisian äät, äit, et, it (“at”), Danish at (“to”), Swedish åt (“for, toward”), Norwegian åt (“to”), Faroese at (“at, to, toward”), Icelandic að (“to, towards”), Gothic 𐌰𐍄 (at, “at”), Latin ad (“to, near”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishat all →

AtheyAtterberry

Old Englishæt all →

nastyAttridgeTwells

Proto-West Germanic*at all →

eatate

Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.