Etymology Explorer › Dutch

Where does “grabben” come from?

grabben (Dutch) comes from Old Saxon gravan, from Proto-West Germanic graban, from Proto-Germanic grabaną, from Proto-Indo-European gʰrābʰ- — to dig, scratch, scrape.

Ancestry of “grabben”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Saxongravanto dig
2Proto-West Germanicgrabanto dig; to engrave
3Proto-Germanicgrabanąto dig; to engrave, scratch
4Proto-Indo-Europeangʰrābʰ-to dig, scratch, scrape

Words derived from “grabben”

  • grabbelen
Every word from Proto-Indo-European gʰrābʰ- →