straw

straw · noun, adjective, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*strew-“to spread, strew”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*strawą“that which is strewn, straw”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*strau
4. Old English · inherited fromstrēaw
5. Middle English · inherited fromstraugh
6. English todaystraw

From Middle English straugh, strauȝ, straw, strawe, strea, streuw, from Old English strēaw, strēow, from Proto-West Germanic *strau, from Proto-Germanic *strawą (“that which is strewn, straw”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”), from *sterh₃- (“to extend, spread”), from *ster- (“barren, infertile”). Cognates Cognate with Scots strae (“straw”), Yola stre, strew (“straw”), Saterland Frisian Sträi (“straw”), Dutch stro (“straw”), German Stroh (“straw”), Luxembourgish Stréi (“straw”), Vilamovian śtruf, śtruw, štrūv (“straw”), Yiddish שטרוי (shtroy, “straw”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish strå (“straw”), Icelandic strá (“straw”); also Cornish stras (“flat valley; lowland”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic srath (“bottom, holm; river valley”), Welsh ystrad (“valley”), Latin struo (“place one thing on top of another; to build, compose; to devise, ready; to arrange, place; to head up”), Greek στρώμα (stróma, “mattress; layer, sheet”), Albanian shtrij (“to stretch; to lay; to run fast”), shtroj (“to scatter, spread”), Belarusian старана́ (staraná, “side; country”), Bulgarian and Macedonian страна́ (straná, “side; country”), Czech and Slovak strana (“side; page; party”), Kashubian and Polish strona (“side; page; party; country”), Russian сторона́ (storoná, “side; country”), страна́ (straná, “country”), Serbo-Croatian стра́на, strána (“side; page”), Slovene stran (“side; page”), Armenian ստերջ (sterǰ, “barren, sterile”), Persian گستردن (gostardan / gustardan, “to extend, spread”), Sanskrit स्तृ (stṛ), स्तॄ (stṝ, “to scatter, spread”).

Straw · proper noun²

1. Middle English · derived fromstraw
2. English todayStraw

From Middle English straw, as a nickname for a thin person or one with straw-coloured hair, or an occupational name for a dealer in straw.

Words from the same roots