seedling (English)

Where does "seedling" come from?

The English noun 'seedling' is formed from the combination of 'seed' and the suffix '-ling'[1]. The root word 'seed' descends through Middle English 'seed' and Old English 'sēd' from Proto-West Germanic '*sād' and Proto-Germanic '*sēdą', ultimately tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*seh₁-' meaning 'to sow'[2].

Open questions

• The Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European ancestral forms are reconstructed linguistically rather than directly attested in surviving texts. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Full etymology tree

• seedling (English), 'A young plant grown from seed.'
  • suffix -ling (English), 'small, immature, miniature'
  • derived seed (English), 'Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs.'
    • inherited seed (Middle English), 'seed (ovule or analogous structure)'
      • inherited sed (Old English), 'alternative form of sǣd'
        • inherited *sād (Proto-West Germanic), 'seed'
          • inherited *sēdą (Proto-Germanic)
            • inherited *seh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to impress, insert'

Ancestors

• seed (English)
• -ling (English)

Descendants and derived words

• cotton seedling thrips (English)

Sources

1. seedling (English) - Wiktionary
2. seed (English) - Wiktionary
3. seed (Middle English) - Wiktionary
4. sēdiz (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
5. sād (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary
6. sēaną (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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