rib

Rib comes from Old English ribb, tracing back through Proto-West Germanic *ribi to Proto-Germanic *ribją, and further to a Proto-Indo-European root *h₁rebʰ- meaning 'arch, ceiling, cover.'

The word held steady in form and meaning across Germanic languages, always naming the curved bone that arches around the chest. In English it also picked up a figurative sense, 'wife or woman,' from the biblical story of Eve's creation from Adam's rib.

It shares roots with Dutch rib, German Rippe, Norwegian ribbe and ribben, and Old Norse rif, which also gave us the word 'reef' — a curved ridge, much like a rib itself.