Where does “wintercreeper” come from?

wintercreeper (English) comes from English Winter, from Middle English winter, from Old English winter, from Proto-West Germanic wintru, from Proto-Germanic wintruz — winter.

wintercreeper (English): Euonymus fortunei, a woody evergreen vine native...

Definitions

  1. Euonymus fortunei, a woody evergreen vine native...

Ancestry of “wintercreeper”, step by step

wintercreeper traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English Winter

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishWinterA placename
2Middle Englishwinterwinter
3Old Englishwinterwinter; year
4Proto-West Germanicwintruwinter
5Proto-Germanicwintruzwinter

via English creeper

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishcreeperA person or a thing that crawls or creeps; A...
2Middle EnglishcrepereAlternative form of creper
3Old Englishcrēopere—
Every word from Proto-Germanic wintruz →
wintercreeper — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer