Ea
/iː/noun
A chiefly dialectal English word meaning a river or running stream, preserved especially in place-names.
Did you know?The Old English word ēa survives in names such as England’s River Lea and the town of Yeading, preserving a water-word older than modern English itself.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₂ekʷeh₂
“Water; a proposed ancient root connected with later water-words, though the exact reconstruction is debated.”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*awjō
“A watercourse, island, or watery place.”
Old English
Old English
ēa
“A river or flowing stream.”
Middle English
Middle English
ea
“A river or stream, increasingly preserved in regional usage and place-names.”
Modern English
English
ea
“A chiefly dialectal or place-name word for a river or running stream.”