seven (English)
Where does "seven" come from?
The English word 'seven' traces its roots back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European term *septḿ̥. It evolved through Proto-Germanic and Old English as *sebun and seofon before stabilizing into its modern form. This number shares a common ancestry with words in many other languages, such as the Latin 'septem,' the Greek 'heptá,' and the Sanskrit 'saptá.'
Full etymology tree
- seven (English), 'The digit/figure 7 or an occurrence thereof.'
- inherited seven (Middle English), 'seven'
- inherited seofon (Old English), 'seven'
- inherited *sebun (Proto-West Germanic), 'seven'
- inherited *sebun (Proto-Germanic), 'seven'
- inherited *sebunt (Proto-Germanic)
- inherited *sepḿ̥t (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'seven'
- borrowed *šabʕ- (Proto-Semitic), 'seven'
- inherited *sṗɣ (Proto-Afroasiatic)
- borrowed *šabʕ- (Proto-Semitic), 'seven'
- derived *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'seven'
- inherited *sepḿ̥t (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *sebunt (Proto-Germanic)
- inherited *sebun (Proto-Germanic), 'seven'
- inherited *sebun (Proto-West Germanic), 'seven'
- inherited seofon (Old English), 'seven'
- inherited seven (Middle English), 'seven'
Direct ancestors
- seven (Middle English)
- seofon (Old English)
- sebun (Proto-West Germanic)
- sebun (Proto-Germanic)
- septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European)
- seiven (Scots)
- sân (West Frisian)
- soogen (Saterland Frisian)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris