foot
The lower extremity of the leg; the part one stands and walks on.
Etymology
From Old English fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from PIE *ped- "foot, lower extremity." Grimm's Law turned *p- into f- in Germanic. This root gives us "pedal," "pedestrian," "pedigree" (French pied de grue "crane's foot" — from the branching lines in genealogy charts), "pioneer," "pawn" (chess), "fetch," "pajamas," and "tripod."
The Journey: *ped- → foot
*ped-
*fōts
fōt
fot, foot
foot
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *ped-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | poús (gen. podós) |
| Latin | pēs (gen. pedis) |
| Hittite | pata- |
| Armenian | otn |
| Sanskrit | pā́d |
| Old Irish | ís (< *ped-s) |
| Lithuanian | pėda |
Did You Know?
Pedigree has nothing to do with "degree" — it comes from French pied de grue "crane's foot," because the branching lines in genealogy charts looked like a crane's footprint. And "pajamas" comes from Persian/Urdu pāy-jāma "leg garment," where pāy "foot/leg" descends from PIE *ped-.
This word descends from the Proto-Indo-European root *ped-. See the full root page for descendant trees, sound law references, and scholarly discussion.