time (English)

Where does "time" come from?

The English noun 'time' descends through Middle English 'tyme'[1][3] from Old English 'tīma', which meant 'time', 'period', 'season', or 'opportunity'[1]. This Old English term traces back through Proto-West Germanic '*tīmō' and Proto-Germanic '*tīmô'[1][2][3], ultimately originating from the Proto-Indo-European root '*deh₂y-', meaning 'to divide'[1][4]. Cognates across the Germanic language family include Icelandic 'tími' and Swedish 'timma'[1]. Despite historical assumptions, it is unrelated to the Latin word 'tempus'[1].

Open questions

The precise Proto-Indo-European ancestral form varies between sources as either '*deh₂imō' or '*dh₂i-mon-'. [1] [4]

Full etymology tree

time (English), 'The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events.'
- inherited tyme (Middle English), 'The concept of time or duration.'
  - inherited tima (Old English), 'a time, hour (period of time)'
    - inherited *tīmō (Proto-West Germanic)
      - inherited *tīmô (Proto-Germanic), 'time'
        inherited *deh₂imō (Proto-Indo-European)
        derived *deh₂y- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to share, divide'
        derived *deh₂- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to share, divide'

Ancestors

tyme (Middle English)
tima (Old English)
*tīmô (Proto-Germanic)
*deh₂y- (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

time (Danish)
taime (Elfdalian)
tími (Faroese)
tími (Icelandic)
timma (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

taem (Bislama)
4/4 time (English)
about time (English)
active time battle (English)
additional time (English)
administration of the fulness of times (English)
adverbial of time (English)
aforetime (English)
aforetime (English)
aforetime (English)
aftertime (English)
against time (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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