for

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
3. Proto-Indo-European*pr̥h₂i
4. Proto-Germanic*furi
5. Proto-West Germanic*furi
6. Old Englishfor
7. Middle Englishfor
8. English todayfor

Inherited from Middle English for, from Old English for (“for, because of”), from Proto-Germanic *furi (“for”), from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-. Cognate with West Frisian foar (“for”), Dutch voor (“for”), German für (“for”), Danish for (“for”), Swedish för (“for”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk for (“for”), Icelandic fyrir (“for”), Latin per (“by, through, for, by means of”) and Romance language descendants (e.g. Spanish por (“for”)), Ancient Greek περί (perí, “for, about, toward”), Lithuanian per (“by, through, during”), Slovak pre (“for”), Sanskrit परि (pári, “over, around”).

Words from the same roots