Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “browse” come from?

Browse comes from Middle English browsen, from Old French brouster, from Old French brost, from Frankish brust, from Proto-Germanic brusts, from Proto-Indo-European bʰrews-.

browse (English): To scan, to casually look through in order to...

Definitions

  1. To scan, to casually look through in order to...

Ancestry of “browse”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishbrowsen—
2Old Frenchbrouster—
3Old Frenchbrostsprout; a sprout, shoot, bud
4Middle High Germanbrobest—
5Old High Germanprovost—
6Old Frenchprovost—
7Latinprōpositus—
8Latinpraepositusplaced in front; placed in command; One placed in...
9Latinpraepōnō—
10Latinprae-before; in front; in charge
11Proto-Italicprai-—
12Proto-Indo-Europeanpreh₂-before, in front
13Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
14Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “browse”

  • browser
  • browsing
  • browsable
  • browseable
  • microbrowser
  • browsability
  • browserless
  • browsewood
  • minibrowser
  • overbrowse
  • unbrowsable
  • browserify
  • cross-browser
  • browseability
  • browser
  • браузер
  • browse
  • browsen
  • Browser
  • browst
  • ブラウザ
  • browsen
  • браузер
  • brauzer
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →