Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “bedrock” come from?

Bedrock comes from English bed and Middle English rokken, from Arabic رُخّ, combining Proto-Indo-European kreg- and Proto-Indo-European en.

bedrock (English): The solid rock that exists at some depth below...

Definitions

  1. The solid rock that exists at some depth below...

Ancestry of “bedrock”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbedA piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on...
2Middle Englishbed—
3Old Englishbeddbed
4Proto-West Germanicbadibed
5Persianبدی—
6Persianبدbad; not good; evil; poorly, badly
7Middle Persian𐭯𐭥𐭭to; at; in
8Proto-Iranianpati-against, toward; lord
9Proto-Iranian*rādi-—
10Proto-Iranian*rād-—
11Proto-Indo-IranianHraHdʰ-—
12Proto-Indo-EuropeanHreh₁dʰ-to think; to arrange; to succeed, accomplish
13Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂reh₁-to think, reason; to arrange
14Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂er-to fit, to fix, to put together
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₂er- →