eight
The origin and history of eight.
Etymology
This word goes back to the PIE word *oḱtṓw. It came from Middle English eighte, aught, eahte, ahte, from Old English eahta, from Proto-West Germanic *ahtō, from Proto-Germanic *ahtōu, from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw. It is cognate with Scots aucht ("eight"), West Frisian acht ("eight"), Dutch acht ("eight"), Low German acht ("eight"), German acht ("eight"), Norwegian åtte ("eight"), Swedish åtta ("eight"), Icelandic átta ("eight"), Latin octo ("eight"), Ancient Greek ὀκτώ (oktṓ), and Irish ocht ("eight"), among others. It is a false cognate of Tamil எட்டு (eṭṭu) and Malayalam എട്ട് (eṭṭŭ).
