Etymology

soon

S1O1O1N1

Today it means: Short in length of time from the present. Full definition →

Middle English sone ← Old English sōna ← Proto-West Germanic *sān(ō)
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soon · adjective, adverb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*suniz“soon”
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*só
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*sēna
  4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*sān(ō)
  5. Old English · inherited fromsōna“immediately, at once”
  6. Middle English · inherited fromsone
  7. English todaysoon

From Middle English sone, from Old English sōna (“immediately, at once”), from Proto-West Germanic *sān(ō), from Proto-Germanic *sēna, *sēnô (“immediately, soon, then”), from *sa (demonstrative pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *só (demonstrative pronoun). Cognate with Scots sone, sune, schone (“soon, quickly, at once”), North Frisian san (“immediately, at once”), dialectal Dutch zaan (“soon, before long”), Middle Low German sân (“right afterwards, soon”), Middle High German sān, son (“soon, then”), Old High German sār (“immediately, soon”). Compare also Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐍃 (suns, “immediately, soon”), from Proto-Germanic *suniz (“soon”).

Soon · proper noun2

Borrowed from Chinese 孫／孙 (Mandarin: Sūn, Cantonese: syun¹, Hokkien: Sun), also spelled as Sun.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*só all →

thethereabout

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.