Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “grass widow” come from?

grass widow (English) comes from English grass, from Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-West Germanic gras, from Proto-Germanic grasą, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰreh₁- — to become green, grow; to grow; to green, to grow.

grass widow (English): An unmarried woman who has lived with several...

Definitions

  1. An unmarried woman who has lived with several...

Ancestry of “grass widow”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishgrassAny plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by...
2Middle EnglishgrasA grass; Any plant; especially a herbaceous one;...
3Old Englishgræsgrass
4Proto-West Germanicgrasgrass
5Proto-Germanicgrasągrass
6Proto-Indo-Europeanǵʰreh₁-to become green, grow; to grow; to green, to grow
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰreh₁- →