The story
- Proto-Indo-European*ís?
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
- Proto-Germanic*ainaz
- Proto-Indo-European*leyp-
- Proto-Germanic*lībaną
- Proto-Germanic*ainalif
- Proto-West Germanic*ainalif
- Proto-West Germanic*ainalifun
- Old Englishendleofan
- Middle Englishelleven
- English todayeleven
From Middle English elleven, enleven, eleven, from Old English endleofan; from Proto-Germanic *ainalif (“one left”) (i.e., one left over after having already counted to ten), a compound of *ainaz and *-lif, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, remain”). Compare West Frisian alve, Low German ölven, Dutch elf, German elf, Icelandic ellefu, Danish and Norwegian elleve.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*leyp- all →
lifeliveleavedelaylivertwelvebelivelave
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.