Etymology

blay

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Today it means: The bleak (fish). Full definition →

Middle English *blaye ← Old English blǣġe ← Proto-West Germanic *blaigijā
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰleyk-“to shine”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*blaigijǭ“blay, bleak, gudgeon”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*blaigijā
  4. Old English · inherited fromblǣġe“blay, bleak, gudgeon”
  5. Middle English · inherited from*blaye
  6. English todayblay

From Middle English *blaye, *bleye, from Old English blǣġe (“blay, bleak, gudgeon”), from Proto-West Germanic *blaigijā, from Proto-Germanic *blaigijǭ (“blay, bleak, gudgeon”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyk- (“to shine”). Cognate with West Frisian blei, Dutch blei, German Bleie, Bleihe (“blay”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishblǣġe all →

bleak

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.