Where does “voice” come from?

Voice comes from Middle English voys, formed by adding the Middle English suffix -en to a word derived from Latin vox meaning "sound" or "utterance," which traces back to Proto-Indo-European wekʷ-.

voice (English): Sound uttered by the mouth, especially by human...

Definitions

  1. Sound uttered by the mouth, especially by human...

Ancestry of “voice”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishvoysA voice; the sound a human or other speaking...
2Anglo-Normanvoizvoice
3Latinvocemaccusative singular of vōx; first-person singular...
4Latinvoxvoice
5Proto-Italicwōksvoice
6Proto-Indo-Europeanwṓkʷsvoice, speech
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwekʷ-to speak, to sound out

Words derived from “voice”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European wekʷ- →