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Tree

3 stages from Proto-Germanic to English.

Today it means a tall woody plant with a trunk and branches

Where does the word "tree" come from? It comes from Proto-Germanic trewą, passing through Old English before entering English (1500s).

trewą→trēow→tree

Proto-Germanic · ancient

shares a root with Greek 'drys', oak, as in 'dryad', and with 'true', firm as a tree

Old English · 700s-1000s

also meant timber and the Cross, as in the poem 'The Dream of the Rood'

English · 1500s

London's gallows at Tyburn were known as 'Tyburn tree'

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Tree’s story begins in Proto-Germanic: trewą meant “tree.” Shares a root with Greek 'drys', oak, as in 'dryad', and with 'true', firm as a tree. By 700s-1000s, the word had taken hold in Old English as trēow. Also meant timber and the Cross, as in the poem 'The Dream of the Rood'. It reached English by 1500s as tree. London's gallows at Tyburn were known as 'Tyburn tree'. Today, tree means a tall woody plant with a trunk and branches.