Etymology

behead

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Today it means: To deliberately remove the head of; to cut off (someone's) head. Full definition →

Middle English beheden ← Old English behēafdian ← Proto-West Germanic *bihaubudōn
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bihaubudōn
  2. Old English · inherited frombehēafdian“to behead”
  3. Middle English · inherited frombeheden
  4. English todaybehead

From Middle English beheden, bihefden, biheveden, from Old English behēafdian (“to behead”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaubudōn, *bihaubidōn (“to behead”), equivalent to be- (“off, away”) + head. Cognate with Middle High German behoubeten (“to behead”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.