Where does “boneheaded” come from?
boneheaded (English) comes from English headed, from English head, from English -y, from Middle English -y, from Old English -iġ, from Proto-West Germanic -g, from Proto-Germanic -gaz, from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos — -y, -ic.
boneheaded (English): Resembling or characteristic of a bonehead
Definitions
- Resembling or characteristic of a bonehead
Ancestry of “boneheaded”, step by step
boneheaded traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English headed
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | headed | Of a sheet of paper: having the sender's name,... |
| 2 | English | head | The part of the body of an animal or human which... |
| 3 | English | -y | Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives... |
| 4 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 5 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |
via English Bône
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Bône | now known as Annaba |
| 2 | Middle English | bon | bone |
| 3 | Old English | bān | bone, tusk; the bone of a limb |
| 4 | Arabic | بان | to separate, to become distinct, to sunder; to be... |
| 5 | Ottoman Turkish | بان | ban; keeper, tender, ward; ben tree, horseradish... |
| 6 | Ottoman Turkish | باڭ | — |
| 7 | Persian | بنگ | hashish, narcotic made from "Cannabis sativa";... |
| 8 | Middle Persian | 𐭡𐭭𐭢 | henbane |