Etymology

dye

D2Y4E1

Today it means: A colorant, especially one that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is applied. Full definition →

Middle English deye ← Old English dēah ← Proto-West Germanic *daugu
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

dye · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰewh₂-“to smoke, raise dust, camouflage”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*daugu“color, shade”
  3. Old English · inherited fromdēah
  4. Middle English · inherited fromdeye
  5. English todaydye

From Middle English deye, from Old English dēah, dēag (“color, hue, dye”), from Proto-West Germanic *daugu (“color, shade”), from *daugan (“to conceal, be dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust, camouflage”). Cognates Cognate with Old High German tougan (“dark, secretive”), tougal (“dark, hidden, covert”), Old English dēagol, dīegle (“dark, hidden, secret”), Old English dohs, dox (“dusky, dark”). See dusk.

dye · verb2

  1. Old English · inherited fromdēagian
  2. Middle English · inherited fromdeien
  3. English todaydye

Fom Middle English deien, from Old English dēagian, from the noun.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishdeye all →

dey

Proto-Indo-European*dʰewh₂- all →

downFebruaryduststeamdewdavenportdunduvetdownrightdweomerfuribund

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.