Etymology

roof

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Today it means: The external covering at the top of a building. Full definition →

Middle English rhof ← Old English hrōf ← Proto-West Germanic *hrōf
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roof · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*ḱrapo-“roof”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hrōfą“roof”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hrōf
  4. Old English · inherited fromhrōf“roof; heaven, sky”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromrhof
  6. English todayroof

From Middle English rhof, rof, roof, rooff, rufe, ruffe, from Old English hrōf (“roof; heaven, sky”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrōf, from Proto-Germanic *hrōfą (“roof”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱrapo- (“roof”), from *krāwə- (“to cover, heap”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch roef (“cabin on a boat”), Faroese rógv (“roof”); also Czech, Polish, and Slovene strop (“ceiling”), Russian строп (strop, “attic, loft, roof”), Serbo-Croatian стро̏п, strȍp (“ceiling”).

roof · verb2

  1. Proto-Germanic*hrōfą
  2. Proto-West Germanic*hrōf
  3. Old Englishhrōf
  4. Middle Englishrof
  5. Middle Englishrofen
  6. English todayroof

From Middle English rofen, roven (“to roof”), from the noun (see above).

Roof · proper noun3

  1. Mandarin · calque of危宿
  2. English todayRoof

Calque of Mandarin 危宿 (Wēixiù).

Roof · proper noun4

  1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*hrōþi“fame, glory, renown”
  2. English todayRoof

* As an English surname, spelling variant of Rolfe. * As a German surname, from a personal name ultimately derived from Proto-West Germanic *hrōþi (“fame, glory, renown”); also Americanized from Ruff, itself shortened from Rudolf (and from the same root).

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*hrōþi all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.