Where does “hairbrush” come from?
Hairbrush comes from English hair and brush, with hair tracing to Middle English her, Old English hǣr, Anglo-Norman eir, and Proto-Indo-European keres-.
hairbrush (English): A brush used in hair care for brushing, tidying,...
Definitions
- A brush used in hair care for brushing, tidying,...
Ancestry of “hairbrush”, step by step
hairbrush traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Hair
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Hair | A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals |
| 2 | Middle English | hēr | a hair |
| 3 | Old English | hēr | at this place |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *hēr | here |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | hē₂r | here, in this place |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 7 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 8 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 9 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 10 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 11 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via English Brush
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Brush | An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair |
| 2 | Middle English | brusshe | — |
| 3 | Old French | broisse | — |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | brustia | — |
| 5 | Icelandic | bursti | brush |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | burstiz | bristle |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | bʰurstís | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰr̥s-tí-s | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰers- | top, tip, point |