Etymology

behind

be·hind
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Today it means: At or to the back or far side of. Full definition →

Middle English behinde ← Old English behindan ← Proto-West Germanic *bihindan
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*bi-
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bihindan
  3. Old English · inherited frombehindan“on the back side of, behind”
  4. Middle English · inherited frombehinde
  5. English todaybehind

From Middle English behinde, behinden, from Old English behindan (“on the back side of, behind”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihindan, *bihindini (“on the back side of, in the rear of, behind”), from Proto-West Germanic *bi- + *hindō (“the hind side, back part”), equivalent to be- + hind. Compare Old Saxon bihindan (“behind”, adverb), Middle High German behinter (“behind; back”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.