wharf

The story

1. Proto-Germanic*hwerbaną
2. Proto-West Germanic*hwerban
3. Old Englishhweorfan
4. Middle Englishwharf
5. English todaywharf

From Middle English wharf, from Old English hwearf (“heap, embankment, wharf”); related to Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), Old Saxon hwerf (whence German Werft and Warft), Dutch werf, Old High German hwarb (“a turn”), hwerban (“to turn”), Old Norse hvarf (“circle”), and Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”).

Words from the same roots