Etymology Explorer › Middle High German

Where does “ab” come from?

ab (Middle High German) comes from Old High German ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab, from Proto-Indo-European apó.

Ancestry of “ab”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old High Germanabof
2Proto-Germanic*ab—
3Proto-Indo-Europeanapó—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European apó →