Etymology

on-

Today it means: on, at, toward, upon. Full definition →

Middle English on- ← Old English on- ← Proto-West Germanic *ana-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*ano-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*an-
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*ana-
  4. Old English · inherited fromon-
  5. Middle English · inherited fromon-
  6. English todayon-

From Middle English on-, from Old English on-, an-, from Proto-West Germanic *ana-, from Proto-Germanic *an-, *ana- (“on-”), from Proto-Indo-European *ano-, *nō- (“on”). Cognate with Dutch aan-, German an-, Swedish an-. Doublet of ana-.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishon- all →

un-

Old Englishon- all →

un-

Proto-West Germanic*ana- all →

an-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.