Where does “leeway” come from?
Leeway derives from English away and Old English weġ, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European weǵʰ-, meaning to go or move, combined with lee, referring to the sheltered side.
leeway (English): The drift of a ship or airplane in a leeward...
Definitions
- The drift of a ship or airplane in a leeward...
Ancestry of “leeway”, step by step
leeway traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Lee
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Lee | for someone who lived near a meadow (the Anglo-Saxon for meadow being ley or leag) |
| 2 | Irish | Laoi | lay, song |
| 3 | Middle Irish | láed | — |
| 4 | English | loid | A lock-picking tool made from a piece of... |
| 5 | English | celluloid | Any of a variety of thermoplastics created from... |
| 6 | English | -oid | Of similar form to, but not the same as. Having... |
| 7 | Latin | -oides | -like, -form |
| 8 | Greek | -ο | ending for accusative singular forms (eg δρόμος, ψήφος); and some vocative singular forms |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | εἶδος | That which is seen: form, image, shape;... |
| 10 | Spanish | -scopio | -scope |
| 11 | Latin | -scopium | — |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | σκοπέω | I look, look at, behold; I examine, inspect; 413... |
| 13 | Ancient Greek | σκοπός | watcher, lookout; protector, guardian; spy, scout |
| 14 | Ancient Greek | σκέπτομαι | I look at, examine; I examine, consider, think |