acre (English)

Where does "acre" come from?

The English noun 'acre' traces its lineage through Middle English 'acre' and Old English 'æcer', which originally meant 'field where crops are grown'[1]. This Old English term descended from Proto-West Germanic '*akr' and Proto-Germanic '*akraz', meaning 'field'[1]. Ultimately, these forms trace back to Proto-Indo-European '*h₂éǵros', which also denoted a 'field'[1].

Open questions

The Proto-Indo-European form '*h₂éǵros' is possibly connected with the verbal root '*h₂eǵ-' meaning to drive. [3]

Full etymology tree

acre (English), 'An English unit of land area (symbol: a. or ac.) originally denoting a day's ploughing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square metres.'
- inherited acre (Middle English), 'alternative form of acorn'
  - inherited æcer (Old English), 'field (specifically one used to grow crops or hold farm animals)'
    - inherited *akr (Proto-West Germanic), 'field, open land'
      - inherited *akraz (Proto-Germanic), 'field, open land'
        inherited *h₂éǵros (Proto-Indo-European), 'field, pasturage'
        derived *h₂eǵ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'goat'

Ancestors

acre (Middle English)
æcer (Old English)
*akr (Proto-West Germanic)
*akraz (Proto-Germanic)
*h₂éǵros (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

ἀγρός (Ancient Greek)
akker (Dutch)
Acker (German)
akur (Icelandic)
ager (Latin)
अज्र (Sanskrit)
acre (Scots)
åker (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

acreable (English)
acreage (English)
acre breadth (English)
acred (English)
acre-dale (English)
acre foot (English)
acre-foot (English)
acreful (English)
acre-inch (English)
acreless (English)
acreman (English)
acreocracy (English)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris