*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of outgo

PIE word *úd The verb is derived from Middle English outgon (“to go out, depart, leave; to come out, emerge; to escape; to protrude; of a sword: to be drawn; to emanate from (a place); to accompany”), from Old English ūt

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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 ↗
noun

A cost, expenditure, or outlay. · The act or process of going out; (countable) an instance of this; an outgoing. · The means by which something flows or goes out; an outlet. · A (quantity of a) substance or thing that has flowed out; an outflow.

verb

To go further than (someone or something); to exceed, to go beyond, to surpass. · To experience, go through, or undergo (something). · To travel faster than (someone or something); to outstrip, to overtake. · To go out, to set forth, to set out.

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

PIE word *úd The verb is derived from Middle English outgon (“to go out, depart, leave; to come out, emerge; to escape; to protrude; of a sword: to be drawn; to emanate from (a place); to accompany”), from Old English ūtgān (“to go out”), Proto-West Germanic *ūtgān (“to go out”), equivalent to out- + go. See also go out. Compare Middle English outwenden (“to go out, depart, leave; to escape; to be emitted, fly out from; of a weapon: to be drawn”), which, like modern outgo, had the past tense and past participle form outwent. The noun is derived from modern English out- (prefix meaning ‘away from; toward the outside of’) + go. Sense 1 (“cost, expenditure, or outlay”) was probably modelled on income. Cognates * Scots outgae * West Frisian útgean * Dutch uitgaan * German Low German utgahn * German ausgehen * Swedish utgå

Relationships mentioned by the source

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

  • Root classification mention*ǵʰeh₁-ine-pro
  • Inherited-form mentionoutgonenm · to go out, depart, leave; to come out, emerge; to escape; to protrude; of a sword: to be drawn; to emanate from (a place); to accompany
  • Inherited-form mentionūtgānang · to go out
  • Inherited-form mention*ūtgāngmw-pro · to go out
  • Cognate mentionoutwendenenm · to go out, depart, leave; to escape; to be emitted, fly out from; of a weapon: to be drawn
  • Cognate mentionoutgaesco
  • Cognate mentionútgeanfy
  • Cognate mentionuitgaannl
  • Cognate mentionausgehende
  • Cognate mentionutgåsv

This page abbreviates 1 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

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

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "dercat",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "langname",
      "args": {
        "1": "ine-pro"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European"
    },
    {
      "name": "word",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine",
        "3": "úd",
        "id": ""
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "PIE word",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "úd"
      },
      "expansion": "PIE word\n *úd"
    },
    {
      "name": "root",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ǵʰeh₁-"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "verb"
      },
      "expansion": "verb"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "outgon",
        "t": "to go out, depart, leave; to come out, emerge; to escape; to protrude; of a sword: to be drawn; to emanate from (a place); to accompany"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English outgon (“to go out, depart, leave; to come out, emerge; to escape; to protrude; of a sword: to be drawn; to emanate from (a place); to accompany”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "ūtgān",
        "t": "to go out"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English ūtgān (“to go out”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*ūtgān",
        "t": "to go out"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *ūtgān (“to go out”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "pre",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "out-",
        "3": "go"
      },
      "expansion": "out- + go"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "outwenden",
        "t": "to go out, depart, leave; to escape; to be emitted, fly out from; of a weapon: to be drawn"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English outwenden (“to go out, depart, leave; to escape; to be emitted, fly out from; of a weapon: to be drawn”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "past tense"
      },
      "expansion": "past tense"
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "participle"
      },
      "expansion": "participle"
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "noun"
      },
      "expansion": "noun"
    },
    {
      "name": "prefix",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "out",
        "3": "go",
        "pos1": "prefix meaning ‘away from; toward the outside of’"
      },
      "expansion": "out- (prefix meaning ‘away from; toward the outside of’) + go"
    },
    {
      "name": "col-top",
      "args": {
        "1": "2",
        "2": "cog"
      },
      "expansion": "Cognates"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "outgae"
      },
      "expansion": "Scots outgae"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "útgean"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian útgean"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "uitgaan"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch uitgaan"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nds-de",
        "2": "utgahn"
      },
      "expansion": "German Low German utgahn"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "ausgehen"
      },
      "expansion": "German ausgehen"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "utgå"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish utgå"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*úd",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/úd"
    ],
    [
      "outgon",
      "outgon#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "ūtgān",
      "utgan#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "*ūtgān",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/ūtgān"
    ],
    [
      "out-",
      "out-#English"
    ],
    [
      "go",
      "go#English"
    ],
    [
      "go out",
      "go out#English"
    ],
    [
      "outwenden",
      "outwenden#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "outwent",
      "outwent#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "out-",
      "out-#English"
    ],
    [
      "go",
      "go#English"
    ],
    [
      "income",
      "income#English"
    ],
    [
      "outgae",
      "outgae#Scots"
    ],
    [
      "útgean",
      "útgean#West_Frisian"
    ],
    [
      "uitgaan",
      "uitgaan#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "utgahn",
      "utgahn#Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "ausgehen",
      "ausgehen#German"
    ],
    [
      "utgå",
      "utgå#Swedish"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A cost, expenditure, or outlay.",
        "The act or process of going out; (countable) an instance of this; an outgoing.",
        "The means by which something flows or goes out; an outlet.",
        "A (quantity of a) substance or thing that has flowed out; an outflow."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable",
        "archaic",
        "obsolete",
        "rare"
      ],
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      "rawRecordSha256": "3f23395a4a8fbb93b9f677c7ac3207b33a2af95c2d8b48ea765467611253359d",
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    },
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To go further than (someone or something); to exceed, to go beyond, to surpass.",
        "To experience, go through, or undergo (something).",
        "To travel faster than (someone or something); to outstrip, to overtake.",
        "To go out, to set forth, to set out."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "transitive",
        "obsolete",
        "intransitive",
        "regional"
      ],
      "recordId": "7c7967dbd730feef2f1ecdf1949e748b72a27818e9fd3878f42850434d02468e",
      "rawRecordSha256": "12159f3902fd92bfbb9f7d5533e2c096e54c4455fdcce068c694a668f024defc",
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  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 1,
    "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 outgo →

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-b3V0Z28