Where does “longest” come from?
Longest comes from English long, from Middle English longen, from Old English lang, from Proto-Indo-European dl̥h₁gʰós, meaning extended in space or duration.
longest (English): superlative form of long: most long;...
Definitions
- superlative form of long: most long;...
Ancestry of “longest”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | long | Having much distance from one terminating point... |
| 2 | English | longitude | Angular distance measured west or east of the... |
| 3 | Old French | longitude | — |
| 4 | Latin | longitūdō | length, longitude; longness |
| 5 | Latin | longus | far, long; extended, prolonged; long; tedious,... |
| 6 | Latin | -ē | ly; used to form adverbs from adjectives |
| 7 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 8 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 9 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 10 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |