jardin (French)
Where does "jardin" come from?
The French word 'jardin' traces its roots back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European concept of an enclosure or hedge, denoted by the root *gʰerdʰ-. This concept evolved into the Proto-Germanic term *gardô, which traveled through Medieval Latin as 'jardinus' before settling into Old French. Eventually, the word stabilized as 'jardin', sharing a distant linguistic ancestry with the English word 'yard'.
Full etymology tree
- jardin (French), 'garden'
- inherited jardin (Middle French)
- inherited jardin (Old French), 'alternative form of gardin'
- inherited jardinus (Latin), 'alternative form of gardīnus, garden, yard'
- learned borrowing *gardin (Old Frankish)
- inherited *gardō (Old Frankish)
- inherited *gardô (Proto-Germanic), 'hedge, fence'
- inherited *gʰordʰos (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *gʰerdʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to enclose, to encircle'
- inherited *gʰordʰos (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *gardô (Proto-Germanic), 'hedge, fence'
- inherited *gardō (Old Frankish)
- learned borrowing *gardin (Old Frankish)
- inherited jardinus (Latin), 'alternative form of gardīnus, garden, yard'
- inherited jardin (Old French), 'alternative form of gardin'
- inherited jardin (Middle French)
Ancestors
- jardin (Old French)
- jardinus (Latin)
- *gardô (Proto-Germanic)
- *gʰerdʰ- (Proto-Indo-European)
Cognates and doublets
- geard (Old English)
- jart (Old French)
- gart (Old High German)
Descendants and derived words
- jardí (Catalan)
- araignée des jardins (French)
- chrysanthème des jardins (French)
- coronille des jardins (French)
- jardinage (French)
- jardin botanique (French)
- jardin d'Éden (French)
- jardin d'enfants (French)
- jardiner (French)
- jardinerie (French)
- jardinet (French)
- jardinier (French)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris