Etymology Explorer › German

Where does “beck” come from?

beck (German) comes from Middle Low German beck, from Dutch bek, from Middle Dutch bec, from Old French bec, from Latin beccus, from Latin -āceus, from Latin -āx, from Latin -ium — Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems.

Ancestry of “beck”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Low Germanbeck—
2Dutchbeka bird's beak; any animal's mouth; a human mouth
3Middle Dutchbec—
4Old Frenchbec—
5Latinbeccusbeak, bill
6Latin-āceus—
7Latin-āx—
8Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
9Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
10Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
11Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →