Where does “fortysomething” come from?

fortysomething (English) comes from English forty, from English Y, from English yuri, from Japanese 百合, from Japanese 連用形, from Japanese 見る, from Japanese 夢, from Old Japanese 夢.

fortysomething (English): An indeterminate value between 40 (inclusive) and 50 (exclusive)

Definitions

  1. An indeterminate value between 40 (inclusive) and 50 (exclusive)

Ancestry of “fortysomething”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishfortyThe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine...
2EnglishYA figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y; A...
3EnglishyuriA narrative or visual work featuring a romance or...
4Japanese百合lily
5Japanese連用形an inflectional category: the continuative or...
6Japanese見るto see, to watch, to observe, to look at...
7Japanesea dream; a vision; leaving reality to the state...
8Old Japanesea dream
9Japanesean order in biology: smaller than a class, bigger...
10Middle Chinese
Every word from Middle Chinese
fortysomething — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer