Etymology

beckon

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Today it means: To wave or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer. Full definition →

Middle English bekenen ← Old English bēacnian ← Proto-West Germanic *bauknōn
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bauknōn
  2. Old English · inherited frombēacnian
  3. Middle English · inherited frombekenen
  4. English todaybeckon

From Middle English bekenen, beknen, becnen, beknien, from Old English bēacnian, bēcnian, bīecnan (“to signal; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *bauknōn, *bauknijan (“to signal”), from *baukn (“signal; beacon”). Cognate with Old Saxon bōknian, Old High German bouhnen, Old Norse bákna. More at beacon.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishbekenen all →

beck

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.