Where does “strawberry” come from?

Strawberry comes from Old English strēawberiġe, a compound of strēaw and beriġe whose original sense remains uncertain.

strawberry (English): The sweet, usually red, edible fruit of certain...

Definitions

  1. The sweet, usually red, edible fruit of certain...

Ancestry of “strawberry”, step by step

strawberry traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Middle English strawbery

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishstrawberyA strawberry
2Old Englishstrēawberġestrawberry
3Old Englishstrēawstraw
4Proto-West Germanicstraustraw
5Proto-Germanicstrawąstraw
6Proto-Indo-Europeanstrew-to spread, to strew
7Proto-Indo-Europeansterh₃-to spread, extend, stretch out
8Proto-Indo-Europeanster-sterile, infertile

via Middle English strawberie

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishstrawberieA strawberry fruit from plant of the genus

Words derived from “strawberry”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ster- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European sterh₃- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European strew- →