The story
- Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*néptih₂
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*niftiz“niece”
- Old English · inherited fromnift“niece, granddaughter”
- Middle English · inherited fromnyfte
- English todaynift
From Middle English nyfte, nift, nifte, from Old English nift (“niece, granddaughter”), from Proto-Germanic *niftiz (“niece”), from Proto-Indo-European *néptih₂. The male is neve. Doublet of niece.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*néptih₂ all →
niece
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.