All words / Plants / tree 木
tree · 5 etymological groups
“tree” in 35 languages English tree and Russian дерево derevo both go back to Proto-Indo-European *dóru, “tree”. German Baum comes from another word, whose English cognate is beam. Indonesian pohon and Tagalog puno inherit Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *puqun, which meant “base of a tree”.
Indo-European19 languages Germanic
English tree German Baum Dutch boom Swedish träd Icelandic tré
Italic
Latin arbor French arbre Spanish árbol Italian albero Portuguese árvore Romaniannote copac also arbore (from Latin arbor)
Slavic
Russian дерево derevo Polish drzewo
Baltic
Lithuaniannote medis
Celtic
Irishnote crann Welshnote coeden
Hellenic
Greeknote δέντρο déntro
Indo-Iranian
Persiannote درخت derakht Hindinote पेड़ peṛ
Uralic Finnish puu Estonian puu Hungarian fa
Afroasiatic Arabicnote شَجَرَة shajara Hebrewnote עֵץ ets
Sino-Tibetan Mandarin 树 shù Traditional 樹
Japonic Japanesenote 木 ki
Austroasiatic Vietnamesenote cây
Kra–Dai Thainote ต้นไม้ tôn mái
Austronesian Indonesian pohon Filipino puno Hawaiiannote lāʻau
Niger–Congo Swahilinote mti
Language isolates Basque zuhaitz also arbola (borrowed from Spanish árbol)
The words and etymologies here were compiled by an AI (Claude) from its trained knowledge and have not been reviewed by a specialist. Items with a source have been checked against that source; anything without one may contain errors.
Spotted a mistake? Let us know at ateliercat24@gmail.com .
Forms marked * (such as *ḱwṓ) are reconstructed: no record of them survives, and they are rebuilt by comparing their descendants. Dog, water, mother, moon and three are on the Swadesh list, the basic vocabulary used in comparative linguistics. Cat and tea are here as words that travelled along with the thing they name.
Sources are linked, not reproduced. Wiktionary content is available under CC BY-SA; WALS Online under CC BY.
Atelier Cat