Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Maggie” come from?

Maggie is an English diminutive of Margaret, which derives from Late Latin Margarita, from Greek margarítēs, meaning "pearl."

Ancestry of “Maggie”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishmagpieOne of several kinds of bird in the family...
2EnglishPIE—
3Middle EnglishpieAlternative form of pye
4Old Frenchpiéfoot
5Latinpēs—
6Ancient Greekμέτρονsomething used to measure: measure, rule, weight;...
7Ancient Greek-τρονForms instrument nouns
8Proto-Hellenic-tronForms instrument nouns from verb stems
9Proto-Indo-European-tromForms nouns denoting a tool or instrument
10Proto-Indo-European-tḗrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tḗr →