Tread
/trɛd/noun
To step or walk on, along, or over something.
Did you know?Tread comes from an ancient Germanic root meaning to step or stamp, the same deep root behind several words for movement and pressure across Indo-European languages.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*derḱ-
“to see, look at (the deeper ancestral source behind related Germanic forms is debated in scholarship, so this is not the root of tread itself)”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*trēdanan
“to tread, step”
Old English
OE
tredan
“to tread, step on, walk”
Middle English
ME
treden
“to step, walk, press underfoot”
Modern English
English
tread
“to step or walk on, along, or over something”