Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “birken” come from?

birken (Middle English) comes from Old English bircen, from Proto-Germanic birkīnaz, from Proto-Germanic -īnaz, from Proto-Indo-European -iHnos, from Proto-Indo-European -no- — adjectival suffix.

Ancestry of “birken”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishbircen—
2Proto-Germanicbirkīnazbirchen, made of birch
3Proto-Germanic-īnaz-en
4Proto-Indo-European-iHnosCreates adjectives of materials
5Proto-Indo-European-no-adjectival suffix

Words derived from “birken”

  • birchen
  • birken
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -no- →