wrought

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*werǵ-“to work”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wurkijaną“to work”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wurkijan
4. Old English · inherited fromwyrċan
5. Middle English · derived fromworchen“to work”
6. English todaywrought

The past participle of Middle English worchen (“to work”), from Old English wyrċan (past tense worhte, past participle (ġe)worht; cf. also the metathetic variant (ġe)wroht), from Proto-West Germanic *wurkijan, from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to work”). Doublet of worked. Cognate with wright (as in wheelwright etc.), Dutch gewrocht, archaic past participle of werken (archaic past tense wrocht), Low German wracht, archaic past participle of warken (archaic past tense wrach, archaic past participle wracht).

Words from the same roots