Etymology

glue

G2L1U1E1

Today it means: A hard gelatin made by boiling bones and hides, used in solution as an adhesive; or any sticky adhesive substance. Full definition →

Middle English glew ← Old French gl ← Late Latin glūs
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gleyH-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*glóh₁ytn̥
  3. Proto-Italic*gloiten
  4. Latinglūten
  5. Late Latinglūs
  6. Old Frenchgl
  7. Middle Englishglew
  8. English todayglue

From Middle English glew, glue, from Old French glu (“glue, birdlime”), from Late Latin glūs (stem glūt-), from Latin glūten. Related to clay. Partially displaced native Old English līm (“glue”) and ġelīman (“to glue”) (whence modern lime).

Words from the same roots

Latinglūten all →

gluten

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.