Etymology

depth

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Today it means: the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep Full definition →

Middle English depthe ← Old English *dīepþ ← Proto-Germanic *diupiþō
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*diupiþō“depth”
  2. Old English · inherited from*dīepþ“depth”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdepthe
  4. English todaydepth

From Middle English depthe, from Old English *dīepþ (“depth”), from Proto-Germanic *diupiþō (“depth”), equivalent to deep + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognates Cognate with Scots deepth, Saterland Frisian Djüpte, West Frisian djipte (“depth; abyss, chasm”), Dutch diepte, German Low German Deepd, Luxembourgish Déift, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål dybde (“depth”), Faroese dýpd (“depth”), Icelandic dýpt, Norwegian Nynorsk djupt, dypt, and Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌹𐌸𐌰 (diupiþa, “depth”); further to Old English diepe, German Tiefe, Icelandic dýpi, Norwegian Nynorsk djup, djupn, Swedish djup.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.