Etymology Explorer › Old English

Where does “earn” come from?

earn (Old English) comes from Proto-Germanic arô, from Proto-Indo-European er- — eagle, bird; loose, light, rare, sparse; to fail,...

earn (Old English): eagle

Definitions

  1. eagle

Ancestry of “earn”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Germanicarôeagle
2Proto-Indo-Europeaner-eagle, bird; loose, light, rare, sparse; to fail,...

Words derived from “earn”

  • ern
  • erne
  • earn
  • erne
  • ern
Every word from Proto-Indo-European er- →