Etymology

maiden

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Today it means: A girl or an unmarried young woman. Full definition →

Middle English mayden ← Old English mæġden ← Proto-West Germanic *magaþ
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*magaþs
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*magaþ
  3. Old English · inherited frommæġden“girl”
  4. Middle English · inherited frommayden
  5. English todaymaiden

From Middle English mayden, meiden, from Old English mæġden (“girl”), originally a diminutive of mæġeþ (“girl”) via diminutive suffix -en, from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs. Equivalent to maid + -en.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishmæġden all →

maidMaidford

Proto-West Germanic*magaþ all →

maid

Proto-Germanic*magaþs all →

maid

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.