out

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*úd
2. Proto-Germanic*ūt
3. Proto-West Germanic*ūt
4. Old Englishūt
5. Proto-Germanic*ūt
6. Proto-Germanic*ūtai
7. Proto-West Germanic*ūtē
8. Old Englishūte
9. Middle Englishoute
10. English todayout

From Middle English out, oute, from a combination of Old English ūt (“out”, preposition & adverb), from Proto-West Germanic *ūt, from Proto-Germanic *ūt (“out”); and Old English ūte (“outside; without”, adverb), from Proto-Germanic *ūtai (“out; outside”); both from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“upwards, away”). Cognates Cognate with Scots oot (“out”), Yola out, outh, udh, ut, uth (“out”), North Frisian üt, ütj (“out”), Saterland Frisian uut (“out of”), West Frisian út (“out”), Cimbrian aus, auz (“out, outwards”), Dutch uit (“out”), German and Luxembourgish aus (“out”), Yiddish אויס (oys, “over, finished”), Danish ud (“out; outside”), Icelandic út (“out”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ut (“out”), Gothic 𐌿𐍄 (ut, “out of”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 14th c. From the inside to the outside of; out of.