Where does “defenceless” come from?
Defenceless comes from Middle English -les and Old English -lēas suffixes added to defence, which derives from Latin defensa, the feminine past participle of defendere, meaning to ward off or protect.
defenceless (English): Without defence; undefended
Definitions
- Without defence; undefended
Ancestry of “defenceless”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | defence | The action of defending, of protecting from... |
| 2 | Middle English | defens | the act of defending |
| 3 | Old French | defens | — |
| 4 | Late Latin | defensa | protection; bounded, defended; defence |
| 5 | Latin | defensus | driven away, having been driven away; defended,... |
| 6 | Latin | dēfendō | to drive away |
| 7 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 8 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 9 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 10 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |