Where does “sweep” come from?
Sweep comes from Middle English swepen, from an ultimate source meaning to sweep or brush.
sweep (English): To clean by means of a stroking motion of a...
Definitions
- To clean by means of a stroking motion of a...
Ancestry of “sweep”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | swepen | To sweep; to stroke with a broom |
| 2 | Middle English | -els | suffix creating nouns denoting events, instruments, or places from verbs |
| 3 | Old English | -els | suffix creating nouns from verbs |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | -islī | Used to form nouns from verbs denoting something... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -ī | -ness, -th |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -į̄ | -th |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -íh₂ | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -h₂ | Creates collective nouns, which refer to groups... |