From PIE *(s)neh1- (to spin, sew) with a tool suffix — literally 'the tool for sewing.'
A slender, pointed instrument used for sewing, typically made of polished steel with an eye at one end for thread; also, various slender pointed objects or instruments.
From Old English 'nǣdl' (needle, pin), from Proto-Germanic *nēþlō (needle), formed from a suffixed form of PIE *(s)neh₁- (to spin, to sew, to thread, to twist fibres together). The suffix *-þlō is an instrumental suffix meaning 'the tool for doing X,' making the word's literal meaning 'the device used for spinning or sewing.' The same PIE root produced Latin 'nēre' (to spin thread), Greek 'nēma' (νῆμα, thread, spun yarn), 'nēsis' (νῆσις, spinning), and through the Germanic branch 'snood' (Old English 'snōd,' a
Bone sewing needles with eyes date back at least 40,000 years, making the needle one of humanity's oldest precision-manufactured tools. The word itself is built from the PIE root for 'to sew' plus an instrumental suffix meaning 'the tool for doing X' — a word-formation pattern that makes 'needle' literally mean 'the sewing thing.'