deer

deer · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*dʰewsóm“living thing”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*deuzą
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*deuʀ
4. Old English · inherited fromdēor“animal”
5. Middle English · inherited fromder
6. English todaydeer

From Middle English der, deer (“animal, deer”), from Old English dēor (“animal”), from Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewsóm (“living thing”), from *dʰéws (“breath”), full-grade derivative of *dʰwes-. Cognate with Scots deer (“deer”), North Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), West Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), Dutch dier (“animal, beast”), German Low German Deer, Deert (“animal”), German Tier (“animal, beast”), Swedish djur (“animal, beast”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk dyr (“animal, beast”), Icelandic dýr (“animal, beast”). Related also to Albanian dash (“ram”) (possibly), Lithuanian daũsos (“upper air; heaven”), Lithuanian dùsti (“to sigh”), Russian душа́ (dušá, “breath, spirit”), Lithuanian dvė̃sti (“to breathe, exhale”), Sanskrit ध्वंसति (dhvaṃsati, “he falls to dust”). For the semantic development compare Latin animālis (“animal”), from anima (“breath, spirit”).

Deer · proper noun²

1. Proto-Brythonic · derived from*dar
2. Pictish · derived from*deru“oak”
3. English todayDeer

Probably from Pictish *deru (“oak”), from Proto-Brythonic *dar.

Words from the same roots