Where does “kill off” come from?
kill off (English) comes from English kill, from Middle English killen, from Old English cwellan, from Proto-West Germanic kwalljan, from Proto-Germanic kwaljaną, from Proto-Germanic -janą, from Proto-Indo-European -yéti, from Proto-Indo-European yé- — he, she.
kill off (English): To eliminate, or make extinct; To take a...
Definitions
- To eliminate, or make extinct; To take a...
Ancestry of “kill off”, step by step
kill off traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English kill
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | kill | To put to death; to extinguish the life of; To... |
| 2 | Middle English | killen | — |
| 3 | Old English | cwellan | to kill; to slay |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | kwalljan | to make suffer, to hurt |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | kwaljaną | to make suffer, to hurt |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 9 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |