earring
EER-ring · noun
Origin
Earring comes from Middle English erering, from Old English ēarhring, itself from Proto-West Germanic *auʀahring — literally 'ear' plus 'ring.'
This is Curio: one word's origin story, every morning. No feed, no backlog.
One short email each morning. Free; stop anytime. See a sample →
Journey
The word has stayed remarkably literal across its history: it was a ring for the ear in Old English, and it's a ring for the ear now.
Related words
It's cognate with West Frisian earring, Dutch oorring, German Ohrring, Danish ørering, and Swedish örring — a whole family of Germanic languages that independently describe the same jewelry the same plain way.
More words
From Proto-West Germanic
Nearby, A–Z