Etymology

ewe

E1W4E1

Today it means: A female sheep, as opposed to a ram. Full definition →

Middle English ewe ← Old English eowu ← Proto-West Germanic *awi
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ewe · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*h₂ówis“sheep”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*awiz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*awi
  4. Old English · inherited fromeowu
  5. Middle English · inherited fromewe
  6. English todayewe

From Middle English ewe, from Old English eowu, from Proto-West Germanic *awi, from Proto-Germanic *awiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis (“sheep”). Cognates See also Old English ēow (“sheep”), West Frisian ei, Dutch ooi, German Aue; also Old Irish oí, Latin ovis, Tocharian B ā(ᵤ)w, Lithuanian avi̇̀s (“ewe”), Russian овца́ (ovcá).

Ewe · noun, proper noun, adjective2

  1. Ewe · borrowed fromEʋe
  2. Ewe · borrowed fromEʋe
  3. English todayEwe

Borrowed from Ewe Eʋe.

Words from the same roots

Old Englisheowu all →

yowe

Proto-Indo-European*h₂ówis all →

ovineoviculture

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.