Where does “roomful” come from?
Roomful derives from English room plus the suffix -ful, with room descending from Middle English and Old English rūm, from Proto-Germanic rūmaz meaning spacious, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pleh₁- meaning to fill.
roomful (English): The amount that a room can hold, especially the...
Definitions
- The amount that a room can hold, especially the...
Ancestry of “roomful”, step by step
roomful traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English room
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | room | Opportunity or scope; Space "for" something, or... |
| 2 | Middle English | roum | A space or area; A room |
| 3 | Old English | rūm | room, space; roomy, spacious, ample, extensive,... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | rūm | roomy, spacious; room, open space |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | rūmaz | roomy, spacious, open |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | rewh₁- | free space |
via English ful
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ful | — |