Dead
/dɛd/noun
No longer alive; lacking life or vitality.
Did you know?Dead comes from Old English dēad, and it’s closely tied to a whole family of Germanic words for death and dying, showing how early English marked the boundary between life and its absence.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dʰewh₂-
“to die, pass away”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*dauþaz
“dead, lifeless”
Old English
OE
dēad
“dead, lifeless”
Middle English
ME
ded
“dead”
Modern English
English
dead
“no longer alive”