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
- A numerical value equal to 5; the number...
Ancestry of “five”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | fyf | — |
| 2 | Old English | fīf | five |
| 3 | Proto-West Germanic | fimf | five |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | fimf | five |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | pénkʷe | five |
Words derived from “five”