Where does “bashfulness” come from?
Bashfulness comes from English bashful, derived from English abashed plus Old English -nes, ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European pleh₁- meaning to fill or be full.
bashfulness (English): The quality or property of being bashful
Definitions
- The quality or property of being bashful
Ancestry of “bashfulness”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | bashful | Shy; not liking to be noticed; socially timid;... |
| 2 | English | -ful | Used to form adjectives from nouns. Full of,... |
| 3 | Middle English | -ful | Appended to nouns to form adjectives denoting... |
| 4 | Old English | -ful | full of; -ful |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -fullaz | -ful |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | fullaz | full; the whole, the entire |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pl̥h₁nós | full |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | pleh₁- | to fill |