Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “bed” come from?

Bed comes from Middle English bed, from Old English bedd, from Proto-Germanic badją, from Proto-Indo-European bʰedʰ-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰedʰh₂-.

bed (English): A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on...

Definitions

  1. A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on...

Ancestry of “bed”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishbed—
2Old Englishbeddbed
3Proto-West Germanicbadibed
4Persianبدی—
5Persianبدbad; not good; evil; poorly, badly
6Middle Persian𐭯𐭥𐭭to; at; in
7Proto-Iranianpati-against, toward; lord
8Proto-Iranian*rādi-—
9Proto-Iranian*rād-—
10Proto-Indo-IranianHraHdʰ-—
11Proto-Indo-EuropeanHreh₁dʰ-to think; to arrange; to succeed, accomplish
12Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂reh₁-to think, reason; to arrange
13Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂er-to fit, to fix, to put together

Words derived from “bed”

  • bedroom
  • bedding
  • embedding
  • bedrock
  • embed
  • seabed
  • hotbed
  • riverbed
  • bedspread
  • roadbed
  • flatbed
  • bedroll
  • bedpost
  • sickbed
  • testbed
  • seedbed
  • bedpan
  • bedload
  • flowerbed
  • embedment
  • daybed
  • bedwetting
  • bedbug
  • waterbed
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₂er- →