Etymology

stairwell

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Today it means: A shaft in a multi-story building enclosing a stairway or staircase. Full definition →

English well ← Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele ← Old English wel
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*steygʰ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*stéygʰeti
  3. Proto-Germanic*stīganą
  4. Proto-Germanic*staigijaną
  5. Proto-Germanic*staigraz
  6. Proto-Germanic*staigriz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*staigri
  8. Old Englishstǣġer
  9. Middle Englishsteire
  10. Englishstair
  11. Proto-Indo-European*welh₁-
  12. Proto-Germanic*welazder.?
  13. Proto-Germanic*welat?
  14. Proto-Germanic*wela
  15. Old Englishwel
  16. Middle Englishwel, wal, wol, wele
  17. Englishwell
  18. English todaystairwell

From stair + well.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.