Where does “breadcrumb” come from?
breadcrumb (English) comes from English bread, from Middle English bred, from Old English bred, from Old English -en, from Old Norse -inn, from Proto-Norse -īna-, from Proto-Germanic -īnaz, from Proto-Indo-European -iHnos — adjectival suffix.
breadcrumb (English): A tiny piece of bread, either one that falls from...
Definitions
- A tiny piece of bread, either one that falls from...
Ancestry of “breadcrumb”, step by step
breadcrumb traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English bread
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | bread | A foodstuff made by baking dough made from... |
| 2 | Middle English | bred | bread, pastry; food, nourishment |
| 3 | Old English | bred | surface; plank, board; table, tablet |
| 4 | Old English | -en | mæġþ + API → mæġden; cocc + API → cycen, cicen;... |
| 5 | Old Norse | -inn | Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning... |
| 6 | Proto-Norse | -īna- | — |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -īnaz | -en |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |
via English crumb
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | crumb | A small piece which breaks off from baked food; A... |
| 2 | Middle English | crome | a crumb; a small piece or portion of food,... |
| 3 | Old English | cruma | fragment; crumb |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | krumô | crumb, fragment |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | grū-mo- | something scraped together, lumber, junk; to... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ger- | to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind... |