Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “roadbed” come from?

Roadbed comes from English road and bed, where bed derives from Middle English rade, Old English bedd, Proto-Germanic badją, and Proto-Indo-European bʰedʰ-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European reydʰ-.

roadbed (English): The prepared location for a road, including its...

Definitions

  1. The prepared location for a road, including its...

Ancestry of “roadbed”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbedA piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on...
2Middle Englishbed—
3Old Englishbeddbed
4Proto-West Germanicbadibed
5Persianبدی—
6Persianبدbad; not good; evil; poorly, badly
7Middle Persian𐭯𐭥𐭭to; at; in
8Proto-Iranianpati-against, toward; lord
9Proto-Iranian*rādi-—
10Proto-Iranian*rād-—
11Proto-Indo-IranianHraHdʰ-—
12Proto-Indo-EuropeanHreh₁dʰ-to think; to arrange; to succeed, accomplish
13Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂reh₁-to think, reason; to arrange
14Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂er-to fit, to fix, to put together
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₂er- →