Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Wolf” come from?

Wolf comes from Middle English wolf, Old English wulf, Proto-West Germanic wulf, Proto-Germanic wulfaz, and Proto-Indo-European wĺ̥kʷos.

Ancestry of “Wolf”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishwolfwolf, lupine; terrifying person
2Old Englishwulfwolf
3Proto-West Germanicwulfwolf
4Proto-Germanicwulfazwolf
5Proto-Indo-Europeanwĺ̥kʷoswolf
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wĺ̥kʷos →