Etymology

dimple

dimp·le
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Today it means: A small depression or indentation in a surface. Full definition →

Middle English dimpel ← Old English *dympel ← Proto-West Germanic *dumpil
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dʰewb-
  2. Proto-Germanic*dumpaz
  3. Proto-Germanic*dumpilaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*dumpil
  5. Old English*dympel
  6. Middle Englishdimpel
  7. English todaydimple

From Middle English dimpel, dimpil, dympull, from Old English *dympel (“pit, depression”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumpil, from Proto-Germanic *dumpilaz (“sink-hole, dimple”), from Proto-Germanic *dumpaz (“hole, hollow, pit”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb- (“deep, hollow”), equivalent to dialectal dump (“deep hole, pool”) + -le (diminutive suffix). Cognate with German Low German Dümpel, German Tümpel (“pond, pool”). Related also to Old English dyppan (“to dip”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.