*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of lawn

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Germanic *landąder.? Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ-der. Proto-Celtic *landāder.? Vulgar Latin *landa? Old French landebor. Middle English launde Engl

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 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.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
verb

To furnish with a lawn.

noun

Ground (generally in front of or around a house) covered with grass kept closely mown. · An open space between woods. · An overgrown agar culture, such that no separation between single colonies exists.

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

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Germanic *landąder.? Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ-der. Proto-Celtic *landāder.? Vulgar Latin *landa? Old French landebor. Middle English launde English laund English laune English lawn Early Modern English laune (“turf, grassy area”), alteration of laund (“glade”), from Middle English launde, from Old French lande (“heath, moor”), of Germanic or Gaulish origin, from Proto-Germanic *landą (“land”) or Proto-Celtic *landā, both from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“land, heath”). Akin to Breton lann (“heath”), Old Norse & Old English land. Doublet of land and lande.

Relationships mentioned by the source

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

Inspect preserved source fields

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

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "ety",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":from",
        "3": "en:laune<ety:from<en:laund>>",
        "id": "ground",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *lendʰ-\nProto-Indo-European *-om\nProto-Germanic *landąder.?\nProto-Indo-European *lendʰ-der.\nProto-Celtic *landāder.?\nVulgar Latin *landa?\nOld French landebor.\nMiddle English launde\nEnglish laund\nEnglish laune\nEnglish lawn\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"is_uncertain\" : true, \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"land\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*lendʰ-\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" }, { \"id\" : \"neuter o-stem\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"redlink\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*-om\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*landą\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" }, { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"is_uncertain\" : true, \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"is_duplicate\" : true, \"children\" : [ ], \"id\" : \"land\", \"status\" : { \"1\" : \"ine-pro\", \"id\" : \"land\", \"pos\" : \"root\" }, \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*lendʰ-\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Celtic\", \"term\" : \"*landā\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"cel-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" }, { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Vulgar Latin\", \"term\" : \"*landa\", \"status\" : \"missing\", \"lang\" : \"la-vul\" } ], \"is_uncertain\" : true, \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old French\", \"term\" : \"lande\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"fro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"launde\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"laund\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"keyword\" : \"from\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"laune\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"lang\" : \"en\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"keyword\" : \"from\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"lawn\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-id=\"ground\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"lawn\" id=\"English:_ground\">"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "launde"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English launde"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "lande",
        "4": "",
        "5": "heath, moor"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French lande (“heath, moor”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Germanic"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cel-gau",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Gaulish"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*landą",
        "4": "",
        "5": "land"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *landą (“land”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cel-pro",
        "3": "*landā"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *landā"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*lendʰ-",
        "4": "",
        "5": "land, heath"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“land, heath”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "br",
        "2": "lann",
        "3": "",
        "4": "heath"
      },
      "expansion": "Breton lann (“heath”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "ang",
        "2": "land"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English land"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "land",
        "3": "lande"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of land and lande"
    },
    {
      "name": "ety",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":from",
        "3": "en:laune<ety:from<en:laund>>",
        "id": "ground",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *lendʰ-\nProto-Indo-European *-om\nProto-Germanic *landąder.?\nProto-Indo-European *lendʰ-der.\nProto-Celtic *landāder.?\nVulgar Latin *landa?\nOld French landebor.\nMiddle English launde\nEnglish laund\nEnglish laune\nEnglish lawn"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*lendʰ-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/lendʰ-#Proto-Indo-European:_land"
    ],
    [
      "*-om",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-om#Proto-Indo-European:_neuter_o-stem"
    ],
    [
      "*landą",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/landą"
    ],
    [
      "*lendʰ-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/lendʰ-#Proto-Indo-European:_land"
    ],
    [
      "*landā",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/landā"
    ],
    [
      "*landa",
      "Reconstruction:Latin/landa"
    ],
    [
      "lande",
      "lande#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "launde",
      "launde#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "laund",
      "laund#English"
    ],
    [
      "laune",
      "laune#English"
    ],
    [
      "laune",
      "laune#English"
    ],
    [
      "laund",
      "laund#English"
    ],
    [
      "launde",
      "launde#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "lande",
      "lande#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "*landą",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/landą"
    ],
    [
      "*landā",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/landā"
    ],
    [
      "*lendʰ-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/lendʰ-"
    ],
    [
      "lann",
      "lann#Breton"
    ],
    [
      "land",
      "land#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "land",
      "land#English"
    ],
    [
      "lande",
      "lande#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To furnish with a lawn."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "recordId": "58078dbb9df32d2037e235cc8a5c021abcf8f6af59a459c383b89f7717aec1a9",
      "rawRecordSha256": "c53ad23ea0e4b251241d53b8f94308037fdbc5d8ee47d3a44ceeed765bcb14f5",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 237876
    },
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "Ground (generally in front of or around a house) covered with grass kept closely mown.",
        "An open space between woods.",
        "An overgrown agar culture, such that no separation between single colonies exists."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable",
        "England",
        "historical",
        "regional"
      ],
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}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
noun

A type of thin linen or cotton fabric tightly woven of fine threads. (Traditionally expensive and luxurious in centuries past.) · Pieces of this fabric, especially as used for the sleeves of a bishop. · A piece of clothing made from lawn.

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

Apparently from Laon, a French town known for its linen manufacturing, from Old French Lan, from Latin Laudunum, a Celtic name cognate with Lugdunum.

Relationships mentioned by the source

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

Inspect preserved source fields

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

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "French"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "Lan"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French Lan"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "Laudunum"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin Laudunum"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cel",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Celtic"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "Lan",
      "Lan#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "Laudunum",
      "Laudunum#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "Lugdunum",
      "Lugdunum#Latin"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A type of thin linen or cotton fabric tightly woven of fine threads. (Traditionally expensive and luxurious in centuries past.)",
        "Pieces of this fabric, especially as used for the sleeves of a bishop.",
        "A piece of clothing made from lawn."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "countable",
        "in-plural",
        "obsolete"
      ],
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}

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 lawn →

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-bGF3bg