Where does “heavyweight” come from?
Heavyweight comes from English weight and heave with the suffix -y, from Middle French -ie, from Latin -ia and -ivus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos.
heavyweight (English): A very large, heavy, or impressive person; The...
Definitions
- A very large, heavy, or impressive person; The...
Ancestry of “heavyweight”, step by step
heavyweight traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English heavy
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | heavy | Having great weight; Serious, somber; Not easy to... |
| 2 | English | heave | To lift with difficulty; to raise with some... |
| 3 | Middle English | heven | To raise, lift, heave; Alternative form of haven |
| 4 | Old English | hebban | to lift, raise |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | habbjan | to have; to lift |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | habjaną | to have, to hold; to lift, heave |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kh₂pyé- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | keh₂p- | to seize, grab; to seize; take up; lift; to take,... |