*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of Kew

From Middle English Cayho, a compound consisting of Old French kai (related to modern quay) + Middle English ho, howe, hoh, hogh (“promontory, cliff, spur of land”), from Old English hōh (“promontory”), see hoe.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
name

A suburban area and former village in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest Greater London, England (OS grid ref TQ1977). · Kew Gardens. · A locality in the Port Macquarie-Hastings council area, north eastern New South Wales, Australia. · An eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English Cayho, a compound consisting of Old French kai (related to modern quay) + Middle English ho, howe, hoh, hogh (“promontory, cliff, spur of land”), from Old English hōh (“promontory”), see hoe.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Inherited-form mentionCayhoenm
  • Derivation mentionkaifro
  • Derivation mentionhoenm
  • Derivation mentionhōhang · promontory
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "Cayho"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English Cayho"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "kai"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French kai"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English ho"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "hōh",
        "t": "promontory"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English hōh (“promontory”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "Cayho",
      "Cayho#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "kai",
      "kai#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "quay",
      "quay#French"
    ],
    [
      "ho",
      "ho#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "howe",
      "howe#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "hoh",
      "hoh#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "hogh",
      "hogh#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "hōh",
      "hoh#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "hoe",
      "hoe#Etymology_3"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "A suburban area and former village in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest Greater London, England (OS grid ref TQ1977).",
        "Kew Gardens.",
        "A locality in the Port Macquarie-Hastings council area, north eastern New South Wales, Australia.",
        "An eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "metonymically"
      ],
      "recordId": "174d959558d5b3859dcb22b6fcc3b905b04685876c7f3686fef44daf4105fa19",
      "rawRecordSha256": "17e2e1d3f971786b03666481eb6579f22f0e2f98428222ba7fa4d4dc1d0d93cb",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 3980459
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Kew →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-S2V3