steam

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰewh₂-“to whirl, waft, stink, shake; steam, haze, smoke”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*staumaz“steam, vapour, breath”
3. Old English · inherited fromstēam“steam, hot exhalation, hot breath; that which emits vapour; blood”
4. Middle English · inherited fromsteem
5. English todaysteam

From Middle English steem, stem, from Old English stēam (“steam, hot exhalation, hot breath; that which emits vapour; blood”), from Proto-Germanic *staumaz (“steam, vapour, breath”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to whirl, waft, stink, shake; steam, haze, smoke”). Cognate with Scots stem, steam (“steam”), West Frisian steam (“steam, vapour”), Dutch stoom (“steam, vapour”), Low German stom (“steam”), Swedish dialectal stimma (“steam, fog”), Latin fūmus (“smoke, steam”).

Words from the same roots