Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “dwelling” come from?

Dwelling comes from Old English dwellan, derived from Proto-Indo-European dʰwelH-, meaning to delay or linger, with the -ing suffix from Old English indicating a noun form.

dwelling (English): A house or place in which a person lives; a...

Definitions

  1. A house or place in which a person lives; a...

Ancestry of “dwelling”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishdwellynge—
2Middle Englishdwellento dwell; to reside; to live
3Old Englishdwellanto mislead, deceive; to hinder; to err, go astray
4Proto-West Germanic*dwalljan—
5Proto-Germanicdwaljanąto be confused, perplex; to hold up, delay
6Proto-Germanic-janąDerives denominatives from nouns and factitives...
7Proto-Indo-European-yétiCreates intransitive, often deponent,...
8Proto-Indo-Europeanyé-—
9Chichewaiyehe, she

Words derived from “dwelling”

  • dwellinghouse
  • multidwelling
Every word from Chichewa iye →