hour (English)
Where does "hour" come from?
The word 'hour' traces its origins back to the Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥, meaning 'year' or 'season.' It traveled through Ancient Greek as hṓra and Latin as hōra, terms that originally referred to any defined period of time, before moving into Old French and eventually entering Middle English. Over time, the meaning narrowed from a general expression of a season or period to the specific sixty-minute unit of time we use today, partially displacing the native Old English word 'tide.'
Full etymology tree
- hour (English), 'A unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).'
- inherited houre (Middle English), 'hour (a 60-minute period which the day has 24 of)'
- inherited houre (Anglo-Norman)
- inherited hōra (Latin), 'hour'
- borrowed ὥρα (hṓra) (Ancient Greek), 'any defined period of time'
- inherited *yóh₁r̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'year'
- derived *(H)yeh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to throw'
- inherited *yóh₁r̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'year'
- borrowed ὥρα (hṓra) (Ancient Greek), 'any defined period of time'
- inherited hōra (Latin), 'hour'
- inherited houre (Anglo-Norman)
- inherited houre (Middle English), 'hour (a 60-minute period which the day has 24 of)'
Direct ancestors
- (H)yeh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)
- houre (Middle English)
- houre (Old French)
- hora (Latin)
- ὥρα (Ancient Greek)
- yóh₁r̥ (Proto-Indo-European)
- gear (Old English)
- hora (English)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris