ring

ring · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)krengʰ-
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hringaz“ring”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hring
4. Old English · inherited fromhring“ring, circle”
5. Middle English · inherited fromryng
6. English todayring

From Middle English ryng, from Old English hring (“ring, circle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krengʰ-, extended nasalized form of *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Doublet of rank and rink, as well as indirectly range. Cognates * West Frisian ring * Low German Ring * Dutch ring * German Ring * Swedish ring * Finnish rengas More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *krǫgъ (whence Bulgarian кръг (krăg), Polish krąg, Russian круг (krug)).

ring · noun, verb²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hringijaną“to ring”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hringijan
3. Old English · inherited fromhrinġan“to ring”
4. Middle English · inherited fromryngen
5. English todayring

From Middle English ryngen, from Old English hrinġan (“to ring”), from Proto-West Germanic *hringijan, from Proto-Germanic *hringijaną (“to ring”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Dutch ringen (“to ring”), Danish ringe (“to ring”), Swedish ringa (“to ring”), Faroese ringja (“to ring up, telephone”), Icelandic hringja (“to ring”), West Frisian ringelje (“to ring”), Dutch rinkelen (“to ring, jingle”), Faroese ringla (“to tinkle, jingle”).

ring · noun³

1. German · derived fromZahlring“ring of numbers”
2. English todayring

From a shortening of German Zahlring (“ring of numbers”), coined by German mathematician David Hilbert in 1892. Apparently first used in English in 1930, E. T. Bell, “Rings whose elements are ideals,” Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society.

Words from the same roots