Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *drew- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Germanic *trewą Proto-West Germanic *treu Old English trēow Middle English tre English tree PIE word *dóru From Middle English trau, tre, tree, treo, treou, trew, trewe, troe, trouȝh, trouȝgh, trow, trowe, from Old English trēo, trēow, trēu, trīo, trīow, trȳw (“tree; wood; forest; beam, cudgel, log; cross”), from Proto-West Germanic *treu, from Proto-Germanic *trewą (“tree”), from pre-Germanic *dréwom, thematic e-grade derivative of Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”). Related to tar, true. Cognates Cognate with Dutch teer (“tree”), Danish, Faroese, and Scanian træ (“tree; timber, wood”), Elfdalian trai (“tree; timber, wood”), Icelandic tré (“tree; wood”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk tre (“tree; wood”), Swedish trä (“wood; tree”), träd (“tree”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌿 (triu, “piece of wood”); also Breton derv (“oak”), Cornish dar (“oak”), Irish dair (“oak”), Manx darragh (“oak; oaken”), Scottish Gaelic darach (“oak”), Welsh dâr (“oak”), Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru, “tree; wood; spear”) (whence Greek δόρυ (dóry, “pike, spear”)), Albanian dru (“tree; wood”), Latvian darva (“tar”), Lithuanian derva (“tar; resin”), Belarusian дзе́рава (dzjérava, “tree”), дрэ́ва (dréva, “tree; wood”), Czech drvo, dřevo (“wood”), Polish drzewo (“tree; wood”), Russian де́рево (dérevo), дре́во (drévo, “tree; wood”), Serbo-Croatian др̏во, drȇvo, drijȇvo, drȋvo, dȑvo (“tree; wood”), Slovak and Slovene drevo (“tree; wood”), Ukrainian де́рево (dérevo, “tree; wood”), Armenian տարր (tarr, “element; component”), Avestan 𐬛𐬁𐬎𐬭𐬎 (dāᵘru, “wood”), Central Kurdish and Persian دار (dâr, “tree; wood”), Northern Kurdish dar (“tree”), Zazaki dare (“tree”), Hittite 𒋫𒊒 (taru), 𒋫𒀀𒊒 (táru, “tree; wood”), Luwian 𒋫𒀀𒊒 (tāru, “wood”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B or (“wood”), Sanskrit दारु (dāru, “timber, wood”). Replaced alternative Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (see beam) and eclipsed non-native Middle English arbre, borrowed from Old French arbre.

branch • Corner • shoetree • tree diagram