Etymology Explorer › Middle High German

Where does “zwīvel” come from?

zwīvel (Middle High German) comes from Old High German zwīfal, from Proto-West Germanic twīfl, from Proto-Germanic twīflaz, from Proto-Indo-European dwóh₁ — two.

Ancestry of “zwīvel”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old High Germanzwīfaltwo-fold
2Proto-West Germanictwīfldoubt
3Proto-Germanictwīflazdoubt
4Proto-Indo-Europeandwóh₁two

Words derived from “zwīvel”

  • Zweifelsfall
  • unzweifelhaft
  • zweifelhaft
  • zweifellos
  • Zweifel
Every word from Proto-Indo-European dwóh₁ →