daisy (English)
Where does "daisy" come from?
The word daisy originates from the Old English phrase 'dæġes ēage', which literally translates to 'day's eye'. This poetic name refers to how the flower’s petals close at night and open at sunrise, resembling an eye waking with the day. Over time, the phrase evolved through Middle English as 'dayesye' before becoming the common name we use today.
Full etymology tree
- daisy (English), 'A wild flowering plant of species Bellis perennis of the family Asteraceae, with a yellow head and white petals'
- inherited from dayesye (Middle English), 'daisy (flower)'
- inherited from dæġes ēage (Old English), 'daisy'
- compound of dæġes (Old English), 'genitive singular of dæġ'
- suffix dæġ (Old English), 'day, (usually) as a period from sunrise to sunset and (scientifically) as a 24-hour period from sunrise to sunrise'
- inherited from *dagaz (Proto-Germanic), 'day (the period between sunrise and sunset)'
- suffix -es (Old English), 'genitive case/possessive marker for a-stem nouns, indicating that an object belongs to the noun'
- suffix dæġ (Old English), 'day, (usually) as a period from sunrise to sunset and (scientifically) as a 24-hour period from sunrise to sunrise'
- compound of ēage (Old English), 'eye'
- inherited from *augā (Proto-West Germanic), 'eye'
- inherited from *augô (Proto-Germanic), 'eye'
- inherited from *augā (Proto-West Germanic), 'eye'
- compound of dæġes (Old English), 'genitive singular of dæġ'
- inherited from dæġes ēage (Old English), 'daisy'
- inherited from dayesye (Middle English), 'daisy (flower)'
Direct ancestors
Updated April 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris