iron
EYE-urn · noun
Origin
Iron comes from Middle English iren, from Old English īsern, from Proto-West Germanic *īsarn, from Proto-Germanic *īsarną, from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom. It may ultimately derive from a Proto-Indo-European word for blood.
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Journey
The word passed quietly from Celtic into Germanic languages, then through Old and Middle English forms like īsern and iren, settling into the modern spelling iron.
Related words
It's cognate with Dutch ijzer, German Eisen, Danish jern, and Icelandic járn — all descendants of the same Proto-Germanic root *īsarną.