bottom

bottom · noun, verb, adjective¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*bʰudʰmḗn“bottom”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*butmaz, *budmaz“bottom; ground”
3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*butm
4. Old English · inherited frombotm, bodan“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”
5. Middle English · inherited frombotme, botom
6. English todaybottom

PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-? Proto-Indo-European *-mḗn Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn Proto-Germanic *butmaz Proto-West Germanic *botm Old English botm Middle English botme English bottom From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”). Cognates Cognate with Yola bothom, bottom (“bottom”), Saterland Frisian Boudem (“floor; ground”), West Frisian boaiem (“floor; ground”), Dutch bodem, boom, boôm (“bottom; ground, soil”), German Boden (“floor; ground; soil”), Limburgish baom (“bottom; ground, soil”), Luxembourgish Buedem (“bottom; earth, soil”), Vilamovian bödum (“bottom; ground”), Danish bund (“bottom”), Elfdalian buottn (“bottom”), Faroese botnur (“bottom”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk botn (“bottom”), Norwegian Bokmål botn, bunn (“bottom”), Swedish botten (“bottom”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic bonn (“base, bottom; sole (of foot)”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar; the bottom of the sea; butt of a tree”), Albanian buzë (“rocky chasm”), Armenian անդունդ (andund), անդունդք (andundkʻ, “abyss, chasm”), Northern Kurdish bin (“bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”). The noun sense “posterior of a person” is first attested in 1794; the verb sense “to reach the bottom of” is first attested in 1808. The term bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is first attested in 1882.

Bottom · proper noun²

* As an English surname, from the noun bottom. Compare Botham. * As a French name, mistranslated from Lafond, in which Old French la fond (“the fountain”) is confused with modern le fond (“the bottom”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• 1794 The buttocks or anus.
• from 16th c. To furnish (something) with a bottom.
• 17th c. To wind (like a ball of thread etc.).
• from 17th c. To establish or found (something) on or upon.
• from 18th c. To lie on the bottom of; to underlie, to lie beneath.
• 17th–19th c. To be based or grounded.
• from 19th c. To reach or strike against the bottom of something, so as to impede free action.
• from 19th c. To fall to the lowest point.