Etymology Explorer › Middle High German

Where does “graben” come from?

graben (Middle High German) comes from Old High German graban, from Proto-West Germanic graban, from Proto-Germanic grabaną, from Proto-Indo-European gʰrābʰ- — to dig, scratch, scrape.

Ancestry of “graben”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old High Germangraban—
2Proto-West Germanicgrabanto dig; to engrave
3Proto-Germanicgrabanąto dig; to engrave, scratch
4Proto-Indo-Europeangʰrābʰ-to dig, scratch, scrape

Words derived from “graben”

  • גרעבער
  • גראָבאײַזן
  • גראָבן
Every word from Proto-Indo-European gʰrābʰ- →