Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “humorless” come from?

Humorless derives from English humor, from Latin humor meaning moisture or bodily fluid, from the Latin agentive suffix -or and Proto-Indo-European wegʷ- meaning to be wet and dʰéǵʰōm meaning earth or ground.

humorless (English): Lacking humor or levity; serious; not funny,...

Definitions

  1. Lacking humor or levity; serious; not funny,...

Ancestry of “humorless”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishhumorUS spelling of humour
2GermanHumorhumor
3Latinhumorliquid, fluid, humour; first-person singular...
4Latinumorliquid, fluid, humour; moisture
5Latin-orused to form a third-declension masculine...
6Proto-Italic-ōsCreates masculine action nouns or result nouns...
7Proto-Indo-European-ōsCreates masculine and feminine action nouns or...
8Proto-Indo-European-oss—
9Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...

Words derived from “humorless”

  • humorlessly
  • humorlessness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -os →