Where does “fruitlessly” come from?
Fruitlessly derives from English fruitless, formed from English fruit and the Old English suffix -līċ (meaning "like"), combined with Old English -lēas (meaning "without"), ultimately from Latin fructus and the verb fruor, tracing to Proto-Indo-European ḱóm.
fruitlessly (English): In a fruitless manner
Ancestry of “fruitlessly”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | fruitless | Bearing no fruit; barren; Unproductive, useless;... |
| 2 | Middle English | fruytles | — |
| 3 | Middle English | fruyt | Alternative form of frute |
| 4 | Old French | fruit | fruit |
| 5 | Latin | frūctus | — |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | δῶρον | gift; hand's width |
| 7 | Proto-Hellenic | dṓron | gift |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | déh₃rom | gift |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | deh₃- | to give |