Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “hour” come from?

Hour comes from Middle English oure, from Latin hora meaning "season" or "time of day," ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European éǵh₂.

hour (English): A time period of sixty minutes; one twenty-fourth...

Definitions

  1. A time period of sixty minutes; one twenty-fourth...

Ancestry of “hour”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishhourehour; A time, occasion, or moment; A canonical...
2Old Frenchhourehour; time; moment to do something
3Latinhōra—
4Ancient Greekὥραany defined period of time; season; climate
5Proto-Hellenic*worā—
6Proto-Indo-Europeanwēr-true
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwer-to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel

Words derived from “hour”

  • hours
  • hourly
  • hourglass
  • hourlong
  • multihour
  • hourless
  • hourglassing
  • hourslong
  • workhour
  • bihourly
  • nonhourly
  • hourglassed
  • subhourly
  • semihourly
  • half-hourly
  • supper hour
  • hourwise
  • hourplate
  • hoursworth
  • by-hour
  • kilohour
  • half-hour
  • half-hourlong
  • trihourly
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wer- →