Where does “five” come from?

Five descends from Old English fīf, from Proto-Germanic fimf, from Proto-Indo-European pénkʷe, the root for the number five across Indo-European languages.

five (English): A numerical value equal to 5; the number...

Definitions

  1. A numerical value equal to 5; the number...

Ancestry of “five”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishfyffive
2Old Englishfīffive
3Proto-West Germanicfimffive
4Proto-Germanicfimffive
5Proto-Indo-Europeanpénkʷefive

Words derived from “five”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European pénkʷe →Every word from Proto-Germanic fimf →Every word from Proto-West Germanic fimf →