Where does “lowdown” come from?
Lowdown is a compound of English low and down, where down derives from Old English dūn, which comes from Proto-Celtic dūnom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱley-.
lowdown (English): The story or truth; Unfair; shameful
Definitions
- The story or truth; Unfair; shameful
Ancestry of “lowdown”, step by step
lowdown traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English low
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | low | Situated close to, or even below, the ground or... |
| 2 | English | allow | To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield;... |
| 3 | Middle English | allowen | — |
| 4 | Old French | alouer | Alternative form of aloer |
| 5 | Latin | allocō | to hire |
| 6 | Latin | ad- | to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it... |
| 7 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 8 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 9 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |