Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “wave” come from?

I need to work through this chain carefully, but I notice some issues: 1. The chain provided appears malformed or unclear - "Middle English -y" doesn't fit as a language stage, and there are repeated "Proto-Indo-European -kos" entries 2. The connection between "wafian" (to wave/move back and forth) and "webʰ-" (to weave) makes semantic sense, but the chain then shows suffixes (-ium, -kos, -kos, -kos) without clear context 3. The "Known meaning: (unknown)" creates a problem since I'm instructed to weave in "the oldest one to explain the sense development" Given the instruction to "state only what the chain supports" and not invent steps, I cannot reliably construct an accurate sentence from this chain as presented. **Could you clarify:** - Is the chain meant to show

wave (English): To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat...

Definitions

  1. To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat...

Ancestry of “wave”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishwaweA wave; Any sort of flowing or spurting motion;...
2Old Englishwǣġa weight; a tool for weighing, balance, scale
3Proto-Germanicwēgazwave; sea
4Proto-Indo-Europeanweǵʰ-to bring; to transport

Words derived from “wave”

  • waves
  • wavelength
  • microwave
  • waveform
  • wavy
  • waveguide
  • shortwave
  • wavefront
  • wavefunction
  • wavenumber
  • wavelike
  • brainwave
  • longwave
  • waveband
  • waveless
  • waviness
  • heatwave
  • multiwavelength
  • subwavelength
  • wavefield
  • microwavable
  • waveshape
  • wavetable
  • multiwave
Every word from Proto-Indo-European weǵʰ- →