Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “curly” come from?

Curly comes from Middle English -y, Middle French -ie, Latin -ia, Latin -ivus, Latin -ia, and Proto-Indo-European -kos, a suffix forming adjectives.

curly (English): Having curls; Curling in a direction, as opposed...

Definitions

  1. Having curls; Curling in a direction, as opposed...

Ancestry of “curly”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
2Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
3Old English-iġ-y, -ic
4Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
5Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “curly”

  • curlicue
  • curliness
  • uncurly
  • noncurly
  • curlily
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →