The word 'wot' is a fossil from Old English, originating from the Proto-Germanic verb witaną, meaning "to have seen, to know." This root itself descends from the Proto-Indo-European weyd-, meaning "to see" or "to know," a prolific root also giving rise to words like 'wit,' 'wisdom,' 'vision,' and the Latin 'vidēre' (to see). 'Wot' functioned as the present tense form for "he/she/it knows" or "I know," surviving into Early Modern English. Its gradual obsolescence reflects the standardization of the verb 'to know' and the loss of many irregular verb forms, leaving 'wot' preserved primarily in archaic or poetic expressions.

This is a simplex word, a direct descendant of the Old English verb 'wāt', the first and third person singular present tense of 'witan' (to know).