Etymology

enchain

E1N1C3H4A1I1N1

Today it means: To restrain with, or as if with, chains. Full definition →

English chain ← Middle English cheyne ← Old French chaeine
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Italic*en
  3. Proto-Italic*en-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Old Frenchen-
  6. Middle Englishen-
  7. Englishen-
  8. Proto-Italic*katesnā
  9. Latincatēna
  10. Old Frenchchaeine
  11. Middle Englishcheyne
  12. Englishchain
  13. English todayenchain

From en- + chain.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.