Chew — From Proto-Germanic to English | etymologist.ai
chew
/tʃuː/·verb·before 900·Established
Origin
From OldEnglish 'ceowan,' from PIE *gyewh1- (to chew) — one of the oldest food-related verbs in the language.
Definition
To crush or grind food in the mouth with the teeth in preparation for swallowing.
The Full Story
Proto-GermanicOld Englishwell-attested
From OldEnglish 'ċēowan' (to chew, to gnaw, to masticate), from Proto-Germanic *kewwaną (to chew, to bite and grind food in the mouth), from PIE *ǵyewh₁- (to chew). ThePIEroot is attested across Germanic and also has possible connections to an Iranian branch: Avestan 'ziiaō' (he chews) has been proposed as a cognate. Within Germanic the family is tightly cohesive — Old HighGerman
Did you know?
'Chewing the cud' — the phrase for ruminant animals re-chewing partlydigested food — goes back to Old English. Theword 'cud' itself comes from Old English 'cudu' (what is chewed), from the same root as 'chew.' Animals that chew cud are called 'ruminants,' from Latin 'rūmināre' (to chew again), which also gives