oui (French)

Where does "oui" come from?

The French word "oui" evolved from the Old French "oïl," which was built from the Vulgar Latin phrase "hoc ille," meaning roughly "this is it." This affirmation was eventually shortened over centuries of speech, eventually resulting in the modern singular form appearing in written records by 1380. Its roots stretch back to ancient demonstrative particles in Proto-Indo-European used to identify and point toward "this" or "that."

Full etymology tree

• oui (French), 'yes'
  • derived oïl (Old French), 'alternative form of oil'
    • compound o (Old French)
      • inherited hoc (Latin), 'nominative/accusative neuter singular of hic (“this”)'
    • compound il (Old French), 'he (third-person masculine singular subject pronoun)'
      • inherited illī (Latin), 'inflection of ille:'
    • compound hoc (Latin), 'nominative/accusative neuter singular of hic (“this”)'
    • compound ille (Latin), 'that, yon; those'
      • inherited *olnos (Proto-Italic), 'that'
        • derived *h₂el- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grow, nourish'
    • compound illud (Latin), 'nominative/accusative neuter singular of ille'

Direct ancestors

• oil (Old French)
• hoc ille (Latin)
• òc (Occitan)
• oi (Catalan)

Updated June 2026

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