huit (French)

Where does "huit" come from?

The French numeral 'huit' traces back to Proto-Indo-European '*oḱtṓw'[1], which passed through Proto-Italic '*oktō'[6] to become Latin 'octō'[1][2]. In Old French, regular sound changes eroded this word to 'uit'[1][3]. During the Middle French period, the spelling shifted to forms like 'huyct'[1][5], where the initial letter 'h' was inserted specifically to prevent confusion with the word 'vit' during an era when the letters 'u' and 'v' were written identically[1]. Modern French preserved this spelling, although its lack of liaison is caused by rules governing numerals rather than any ancient aspirated consonant[1].

Open questions

• The Proto-Indo-European root is reconstructed as an ancient dual form meaning two times four fingertips, but this morphological analysis is based on comparative reconstruction rather than direct attestation. [2] [4]

Full etymology tree

• huit (French), 'eight'
  • inherited huyct (Middle French), 'eight'
    • derived uit (Old French), 'eight'
      • inherited octo (Latin), 'eight; 8'
        • inherited *oktō (Proto-Italic), 'eight'
          • inherited *oḱtṓw (Proto-Indo-European), 'eight'
            • derived *(H)oḱto- (Proto-Indo-European)

Ancestors

• huyct (Middle French)
• uit (Old French)
• octo (Latin)
• *oḱtṓw (Proto-Indo-European)

Descendants and derived words

• huit cents (French)
• huitième (French)
• huitième (French)
• nœud en huit (French)
• wit (Louisiana Creole)

Sources

1. huit (French) - Wiktionary
2. octo (Latin) - Wiktionary
3. uit (Old French) - Wiktionary
4. oḱtṓw (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
5. huyct (Middle French) - Wiktionary
6. oktō (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

More words starting with H

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