Etymology

kiss

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Today it means: To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to show love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting. Full definition →

Middle English kissen ← Old English cyssan ← Proto-West Germanic *kussijan
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kiss · verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*kussijaną“to kiss”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*kussijan
  3. Old English · inherited fromcyssan“to kiss”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromkissen
  5. English todaykiss

From Middle English kissen, kussen, from Old English cyssan (“to kiss”), from Proto-West Germanic *kussijan, from Proto-Germanic *kussijaną (“to kiss”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian küsje, Dutch kussen, German Low German küssen, German küssen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål kysse, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish kyssa. Compare Proto-Indo-European *ku-, *kus- (probably imitative), with descendants including Ancient Greek κύσσω (kússō), poetic form of κύσω (kúsō, “to kiss”), and Hittite [script needed] (kuwassanzi, “they kiss”).

kiss · noun2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*kussaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*koss
  3. Old English · inherited fromcoss
  4. Middle English · inherited fromkis
  5. English todaykiss

From Middle English kis, kys, kus, forms of cos influenced by kissen, from Old English coss, from Proto-West Germanic *koss, from Proto-Germanic *kussaz.

Kiss · proper noun3

  1. Anglo-Norman · derived fromcuisse“thigh”
  2. English todayKiss

* As a Hungarian surname, from Kiss. * As an English surname of Norman origin, from Anglo-Norman cuisse (“thigh”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.