Where does “childless” come from?
Childless comes from Middle English childles, from Middle English child combined with Old English -lēas (meaning without), from Old English lēas, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gel- meaning to abandon or leave behind.
childless (English): Not having any children
Ancestry of “childless”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | childles | Not having had children; childless; Lacking one's... |
| 2 | Middle English | -les | Lacking ; without |
| 3 | Turkish | -le | with, shortened form of ile; by, shortened form... |
| 4 | Turkish | ile | with; and |
| 5 | Ottoman Turkish | ایله | — |
| 6 | Old Anatolian Turkish | اِیلَه | — |
| 7 | Proto-Turkic | bile | with, together, also |
Words derived from “childless”