шесть (Russian)
Where does "шесть" come from?
The Russian word for six, шесть (shest'), traces its origins back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European root *swéḱs. Over millennia, it evolved through Proto-Balto-Slavic and Proto-Slavic into the Old East Slavic form шесть, eventually settling into its modern Russian usage. The linguistic journey reflects complex ancient sound shifts, including the influence of the number's ordinal form on its final consonant.
Full etymology tree
- шесть (šestĭ) (Russian), 'six (6)'
- inherited шесть (šestĭ) (Old East Slavic), 'six (6)'
- inherited *šestь (Proto-Slavic), 'six'
- inherited *šešti (Pre-Slavic)
- inherited *šéš (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'six'
- inherited *swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European), 'six'
- derived *wéḱs (Proto-Indo-European)
- influence *septḿ̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'seven'
- inherited *swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European), 'six'
- affix *šestъ (Proto-Slavic), 'sixth'
- inherited *šéš (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'six'
- inherited *šešti (Pre-Slavic)
- inherited *šestь (Proto-Slavic), 'six'
- inherited шесть (šestĭ) (Old East Slavic), 'six (6)'
Ancestors
- шесть (Old East Slavic)
- *šestь (Proto-Slavic)
- *šéš (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- *swéḱs (Proto-Indo-European)
Updated July 2026
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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris