geel (Afrikaans)
Where does "geel" come from?
The Afrikaans word 'geel' traces its lineage back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰelh₃-, which described the colors green and yellow. It evolved through Proto-Germanic and Old Dutch before arriving in modern Dutch and subsequently being adopted into Afrikaans.
Full etymology tree
- geel (Afrikaans), 'yellow'
- inherited geel (Dutch), 'yellow'
- inherited gelu (Middle Dutch)
- inherited *gelo (Old Dutch), 'yellow'
- inherited *gelu (Proto-West Germanic), 'yellow'
- inherited *gelwaz (Proto-Germanic), 'yellow'
- derived *ǵʰelh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), 'green, yellow'
- suffix *-wós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates adjectives from verb stems.'
- inherited *gelwaz (Proto-Germanic), 'yellow'
- inherited *gelu (Proto-West Germanic), 'yellow'
- inherited *gelo (Old Dutch), 'yellow'
- inherited gelu (Middle Dutch)
- inherited geel (Dutch), 'yellow'
Ancestors
- *ǵʰelh₃- (Proto-Indo-European)
- geel (Dutch)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris