fem (Norwegian Bokmål)
Where does "fem" come from?
The Norwegian word 'fem' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe, a word for 'five' that likely shares an ancient connection with linguistic ancestors of 'fist' and 'finger.' This term evolved into the Proto-Germanic *fimf and later shifted into the Old Norse fimm. Over centuries of linguistic change, it settled into its modern form, maintaining its core mathematical meaning throughout.
Full etymology tree
- fem (Norwegian Bokmål), 'five'
- inherited fimm (Old Norse), 'five'
- inherited *fimf (Proto-Germanic), 'five'
- inherited *pémpe (Pre-Germanic)
- inherited *pénkʷe (Proto-Indo-European), 'five'
- inherited *pémpe (Pre-Germanic)
- inherited *fimf (Proto-Germanic), 'five'
- inherited fimm (Old Norse), 'five'
Ancestors
- fimm (Old Norse)
- *fimf (Proto-Germanic)
- *pénkʷe (Proto-Indo-European)
Descendants and derived words
- femdel (Norwegian Bokmål)
- femdoble (Norwegian Bokmål)
- femkamp (Norwegian Bokmål)
- femkant (Norwegian Bokmål)
- femsifret (Norwegian Bokmål)
- tjuefem (Norwegian Bokmål)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris