tree frog (English)

Where does "tree frog" come from?

The English noun tree frog is a compound formed by combining the words 'tree' and 'frog'[1]. Its first component descends from Old English 'trēow', tracing back through Proto-West Germanic and Proto-Germanic to the Proto-Indo-European root '*dóru'[2]. Its second component descends from Middle English 'frogge' and Old English 'frocga', which derives from Proto-West Germanic '*froggō'[3].

Open questions

The ultimate Indo European roots and phonetic development of the word frog remain uncertain, with alternative links to leaping roots or substrate origins. [9]

Full etymology tree

tree frog (English), 'A frog of the family Hylidae, of small size and more elegant in form than the true frogs (family Ranidae), often with a bright coloration.'
- compound tree (English), 'A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches.'
  - inherited tre, tree, treo, treou, trew, trow (Middle English)
    - inherited trēo, trēow (Old English)
      - inherited *treu (Proto-West Germanic), 'tree'
        inherited *trewą (Proto-Germanic), 'tree'
        inherited *dréwom (pre-Germanic)
        inherited *dóru (Proto-Indo-European), 'tree'
- compound frog (English), 'Any of a class of small tailless amphibians of the order Anura that typically hop.'
  - inherited frogge (Middle English), 'a frog or toad (member of the order Anura)'
    - inherited frocga (Old English), 'frog'
      - inherited *froggō (Proto-West Germanic), 'frog'

Ancestors

tree (English)
frog (English)

Descendants and derived words

big-eyed tree frog (English)
dumpy tree frog (English)
giant tree frog (English)
gray tree frog (English)
gray treefrog (English)
green tree frog (English)
Pacific tree frog (English)
White's tree frog (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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