Where does “dove” come from?

Dove comes from Old English dūfe, from Proto-Germanic *dūbōn, from Proto-Indo-European dʰewbʰ-, a root meaning to move or whirl, also underlying English drive through a separate semantic path.

dove (English): A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae

Definitions

  1. A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae

Ancestry of “dove”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishdouveA dove, pigeon, or similar bird; An affectionate...
2Old Englishdūfedove, pigeon
3Proto-Germanicdūbǭdove, pigeon
4Proto-Indo-Europeandʰewbʰ-deep
5Proto-Indo-Europeandʰewh₂-smoke; mist, haze

Words derived from “dove”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European dʰewh₂- →