Where does “awful” come from?
Awful derives from Middle English agheful, formed with the suffix -ful (from Old English -ful), ultimately from Proto-Germanic awiz and Proto-Indo-European h₂egʰ-.
awful (English): Very bad; Exceedingly great; usually applied...
Definitions
- Very bad; Exceedingly great; usually applied...
Ancestry of “awful”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | agheful | awe-inspiring, wondrous; awful, horrible |
| 2 | Middle English | -ful | Appended to nouns to form adjectives denoting... |
| 3 | Old English | -ful | full of; -ful |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | -fullaz | -ful |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | fullaz | full; the whole, the entire |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pl̥h₁nós | full |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pleh₁- | to fill |