Etymology

guise

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Today it means: A customary way of speaking or acting; a fashion, a manner, a practice (often used formerly in such phrases as "at his own guise"; that is, in his own fashion, to suit himself.) Full definition →

Middle English guise ← Old French guisse ← Frankish *wīsa
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*weyd-“to see, view, behold, perceive”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*wīsǭ“manner, way”
  3. Frankish · derived from*wīsa“manner, way, fashion”
  4. Old French · derived fromguisse
  5. Middle English · inherited fromguise
  6. English todayguise

From Middle English guise, gise, gyse, from Old French guisse, guise, vise (“guise, manner, way”), from Old Frankish *wīsa (“manner, way, fashion”), from Proto-Germanic *wīsǭ (“manner, way”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, view, behold, perceive”). Cognate with Old High German wīsa (“way, manner”), Old English wīse (“way, manner”), Dutch wijze (“way, manner”). More at wise.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*weyd- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.