Where does “belie” come from?
Belie comes from Middle English belyen, from Old English belicgan (be- + bī, from Proto-Indo-European h₁epi) combined with legʰ- and ki- (from Proto-Indo-European key-).
belie (English): To lie around; encompass; To surround; beleaguer;...
Definitions
- To lie around; encompass; To surround; beleaguer;...
Ancestry of “belie”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | belyen | — |
| 2 | Old English | belicgan | to lie by or about, beleaguer, encompass, beset |
| 3 | Old English | be- | a productive prefix usually used to form verbs... |
| 4 | Old English | hrōpan | to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl; to cry... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | hrōpan | to cry out, to call, to shout |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | hrōpaną | to cry out, call, shout |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱer- | to grow, to make grow, to nourish; to plait,... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kr̥- | to turn, to bend |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ker- | army |