Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “leaderless” come from?

Leaderless derives from English leader plus the Old English suffix -lēas, from Old English lēas meaning "lacking" or "devoid of," ultimately from Proto-Germanic lausaz and Proto-Indo-European lewH-.

leaderless (English): Without a person providing direction; Without a...

Definitions

  1. Without a person providing direction; Without a...

Ancestry of “leaderless”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-lessLacking ; without . Added usually to a noun to...
2Middle English-lesLacking ; without
3Turkish-lewith, shortened form of ile; by, shortened form...
4Turkishilewith; and
5Ottoman Turkishایله—
6Old Anatolian Turkishاِیلَه—
7Proto-Turkicbilewith, together, also

Words derived from “leaderless”

  • leaderlessness
  • leaderlessly
Every word from Proto-Turkic bile →