Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “otherworldly” come from?

Otherworldly derives from English otherworld plus the Middle English adjectival suffix -ly, from Old English -līċ (resembling), from Proto-Germanic -līkaz and galīkaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European līg- and ḱóm.

otherworldly (English): Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a...

Definitions

  1. Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a...

Ancestry of “otherworldly”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishotherSee "other" below; Second; Alien
2EnglishkinRace; family; breed; kind; Persons of the same...
3Englishfictionkin—
4EnglishfictionLiterary type using invented or imaginative...
5Middle Englishficcioun—
6Old Frenchficciondissimulation, ruse, invention
7Latinfictiofashioning, forming, formation; fiction
8Latin-tiō—
9Latindissertātiō—
10Latindissertusarranged, disposed; explained
11Latindissereresecond-person singular future passive indicative...
12Latindis-asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;...
13Latincalceusshoe
14Latincalxlimestone; chalk; the finish line

Words derived from “otherworldly”

  • otherworldliness
Every word from Latin calx →