sparrow (English)

Where does "sparrow" come from?

The English noun 'sparrow' comes from Middle English 'sparwe'[1][5], which was inherited from Old English 'spearwa'[1][4][5]. Going further back in Germanic, it descends through Proto-West Germanic '*sparwō'[1][6] and Proto-Germanic '*sparwô'[1][2][4][6]. These forms ultimately trace back to a deeper Proto-Indo-European root '*spḗr' meaning 'sparrow'[1], which may have been borrowed from a non-Indo-European source, a common occurrence for bird names in ancient languages[3]. Related cognates across other languages include Dutch 'spreeuw' and Ancient Greek 'ψάρ' denoting starlings.

Open questions

The Proto-Indo-European form '*spḗr' is of unknown origin and may stem from a non-Indo-European source. [3]

Full etymology tree

sparrow (English), 'The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers.'
- inherited sparwe (Middle English), 'The sparrow (Passer domesticus) or a similar bird.'
  - inherited spearwa (Old English), 'sparrow'
    - inherited *sparwō (Proto-West Germanic), 'sparrow'
      - inherited *sparwô (Proto-Germanic), 'sparrow'
        inherited *spḗr (Proto-Indo-European), 'sparrow'

Ancestors

sparwe (Middle English)
spearwa (Old English)
*sparwō (Proto-West Germanic)
*sparwô (Proto-Germanic)
*spḗr (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

ψάρ (Ancient Greek)
spreeuw (Dutch)
Sperling (German)
spurv (Norwegian Bokmål)
sporv (Norwegian Nynorsk)
sparv (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

olive sparrow (English)
sparrow dominoes (English)
sparrow fart (English)
sparrow-fart (English)
sparrow grass (English)
sparrow-grass (English)
sparrow hawk (English)
sparrowhawk (English)
sparrowish (English)
sparrow-lark (English)
sparrowless (English)
sparrowlike (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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