drone

drone · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*dʰreh₁n-“bee, drone, hornet”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*drenô
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*drānu
4. Old English · inherited fromdrān
5. Middle English · inherited fromdrane
6. English todaydrone

From Middle English drane, dron, drone, from Old English drān, drǣn, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drenô, *drēnuz (“drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreh₁n- (“bee, drone, hornet”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Droane (“drone”), Dutch dar (“drone”), German Drohne (“drone”), Limburgish dreen, Droon (“drone”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk drone (“drone”), Swedish drönare (“drone”); also Belarusian тру́цень (trúcjenʹ, “drone”), Bulgarian търтей (tărtej, “drone”), Czech trubec (“drone”), Macedonian трут (trut, “drone”), Polish trąd, trut, truteń (“drone”), Russian and Ukrainian тру́тень (trútenʹ, “drone”), Serbo-Croatian тру̑т, trȗt (“drone”), Slovak trúd (“drone”), Slovene trot (“drone”). The etymology of the sense of "remote-controlled aircraft" is disputed; theories include early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths.

drone · verb, noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰer-“to roar, hum, drone”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*drunjaną“to drone, roar, make a sound”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*drunnjan
4. Middle English · inherited fromdrounen“to roar, bellow”
5. English todaydrone

From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), from Proto-West Germanic *drunnjan, from Proto-Germanic *drunjaną (“to drone, roar, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to roar, hum, drone”). Cognate with Scots drune (“to drone, moan, complain”), Dutch dreunen (“to drone, boom, thud”), Low German drönen (“to drone, buzz, hum”), German dröhnen (“to roar, boom, rumble”), Danish drøne (“to roar, boom, peel out”), Swedish dröna (“to low, bellow, roar”), Icelandic drynja (“to roar”).

Drone · proper noun³

* As a German surname, spelling variant of Drohne, a city in Westphalia. * As an English surname, spelling variant of Drane. * As an Irish surname, spelling variant of Drohan; as a Scottish Gaelic surname, spelling variant of Dron in Perthshire.

Words from the same roots