Etymology

sieve

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Today it means: A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid. Full definition →

Middle English sive ← Old English sife ← Proto-West Germanic *sibi
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*seyp-
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*sibi“sieve”
  3. Old English · inherited fromsife
  4. Middle English · inherited fromsive
  5. English todaysieve

From Middle English sive, syfe, from Old English sife, from Proto-West Germanic *sibi (“sieve”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyp-, *seyb- (“to pour, sieve, strain, run, drip”). Akin to German Sieb, Dutch zeef, Proto-Slavic *sito (Russian си́то (síto), сев (sev), се́ять (séjatʹ)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.