Etymologically
Log in

roof

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:54. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ruːf/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rof,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English hrōf (“roof, ceiling; top, summit; the sky”),[2][3][5] from Proto-Germanic *khrofam,[2] also the source of Old Frisian hrōf, Dutch roef “deckhouse, cabin” and Old Norse hróf “boat shed”.[2][3][5] It has no certain cognates outside Germanic,[2][5] though Barnhart compares Old Church Slavonic stropŭ “roof”.[3] English alone has kept the word in the general sense; the other Germanic languages use words corresponding to thatch.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The outside upper covering of a house: before 900 in the OED,[7] about 725 in Barnhart, in Beowulf.[3]

Semantic evolution

Under one's roof, in one's house, is from about 950,[7] and a roof as a symbol of home from 1591.[7] The roof of the mouth, the palate, was already late Old English.[2][5] The top of a carriage is by 1706,[2] and raise the roof, to make an uproar, from 1860, originally in American Southern dialect.[2] The verb, to cover with a roof, is from before 1420, in Lydgate's Troy Book.[3][4] Roofless is from 1610,[3] and roofer from 1855.[3]

Timeline

  • a. 900 – the top covering of a building.[7]
  • c. 950 – under one's roof.[7]
  • a. 1420 – verb.[3]
  • 1706 – the top of a carriage.[2]
  • 1855 – roofer.[3]
  • 1860 – raise the roof.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The structure forming the top covering of a building.
  2. A house or home: a roof over one's head.
  3. The top covering of a vehicle or other structure.
  4. The upper part of the mouth, the palate, or of a cave or tunnel.

Verb

  1. To cover with a roof.

Word family

  • roofed
  • roofless
  • rooflike
  • roofer
  • reroof
  • roofline
  • underroof
  • rooftop
  • thatch

Usage notes

The plural is usually roofs, but rooves is also heard in Britain.[1][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins