Etymology

dew

D2E1W4

Today it means: Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces. Full definition →

Middle English dew ← Old English dēaw ← Proto-West Germanic *dauw
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dew · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰewh₂-“smoke, haze”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*dawwaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*dauw
  4. Old English · inherited fromdēaw“dew”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromdew
  6. English todaydew

From Middle English dew, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-West Germanic *dauw, from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”). Cognate with German Tau, Dutch dauw and Afrikaans dou. Doublet of dag.

dew · verb2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*dawwāną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*dauwēn
  3. Old English · inherited from*dēawian
  4. Middle English · inherited fromdewe
  5. English todaydew

From Middle English dewe, dewen, from Old English *dēawian, from Proto-West Germanic *dauwēn, from Proto-Germanic *dawwāną. Cognates include Saterland Frisian daue, German tauen and Dutch dauwen.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*dʰewh₂- all →

downFebruaryduststeamdyedavenportdunduvetdownrightdweomerfuribund

Middle Englishdewe all →

dueduty

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.