Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “neighborly” come from?

Neighborly comes from Middle English -ly (an adverbial suffix), Old English -līċ (meaning "like" or "resembling"), Proto-Germanic -līkaz, and Proto-Indo-European ḱóm.

neighborly (English): US standard spelling of neighbourly

Definitions

  1. US standard spelling of neighbourly

Ancestry of “neighborly”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishneighborUS standard spelling of neighbour
2Middle Englishneyghebour—
3Old Englishnēahġebūrneighbour
4Proto-West Germanicnāhwagabūrō—
5Proto-Germanicnēhwagabūrôneighbour
6Proto-Germanicnēhwaznear, close
7Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂nḗḱwos—
8Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂neḱ-to reach, to attain

Words derived from “neighborly”

  • neighborliness
  • unneighborly
  • unneighborliness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₂neḱ- →