glue (English)
Where does "glue" come from?
English 'glue' comes from Middle English 'glew'[1][3], which was borrowed from Old French 'glu', meaning 'glue' or 'birdlime'[1]. This in turn derived from Late Latin 'glūs' (with stem 'glūt-'), a shortened form of classical Latin 'glūten'[1][3]. Deeper linguistic reconstruction traces 'glūten' back through Proto-Italic '*gloiten' to the Proto-Indo-European root '*gleh₁y-', which meant 'to stick, to spread, or to smear'[2]. Following the Norman Conquest, this imported Romance noun partially displaced the native Old English word for glue, 'līm'[1].
Open questions
- The intermediate Proto-Italic noun '*gloiten' and the root Proto-Indo-European form '*glóh₁ytn̥' are unattested, reconstructed ancestral forms. [2]
Full etymology tree
- glue (English), 'A hard gelatin made by boiling bones and hides, used in solution as an adhesive; or any sticky adhesive substance.'
- inherited glew (Middle English), 'A adhesive or adherent; something that binds:'
- borrowed glu (Old French)
- derived glūs (Late Latin)
- derived gluten (Latin), 'glue'
- derived *gloiten (Proto-Italic)
- derived *glóh₁ytn̥ (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *gleyH- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to smear, putty'
- derived *glóh₁ytn̥ (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *gloiten (Proto-Italic)
- derived gluten (Latin), 'glue'
- derived glūs (Late Latin)
- borrowed glu (Old French)
- inherited glew (Middle English), 'A adhesive or adherent; something that binds:'
Ancestors
- glew (Middle English)
- gluten (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- bee glue (English)
- beglue (English)
- crazy glue (English)
- desert glue (English)
- englue (English)
- fish glue (English)
- flesh glue (English)
- glueball (English)
- glueboard (English)
- glue boiler (English)
- glue cell (English)
- glue code (English)
Sources
Updated September 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris