iron
A strong, hard, silvery-grey metallic element, the most commonly used of all metals.
Etymology
From Old English īsern/īren, from Proto-Germanic *īsarną, probably from Proto-Celtic *īsarno- "iron," which may ultimately derive from PIE *h₂eyos- "metal, copper, bronze." The semantic shift from a general word for metal to iron specifically occurred as iron replaced bronze. The exact etymology is disputed; some scholars favour a non-IE substrate origin.
The Journey: *h₂eyos- → iron
*h₂eyos-
*īsarno-
*īsarną
īsern
iren
iron
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *h₂eyos-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Dutch | ijzer |
| Welsh | haearn |
| German | Eisen |
| Gothic | eisarn |
| Old Irish | íarn |
| Old Norse | ísarn |
Did You Know?
English "iron" may have been borrowed from Celtic into Germanic — one of the rare cases where a Celtic word conquered the Germanic languages. The Iron Age Celts were early masters of the metal.
This word descends from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eyos-. See the full root page for descendant trees, sound law references, and scholarly discussion.