Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “shapeless” come from?

Shapeless comes from Middle English -les, Old English -lēas meaning "without," from Old English lēas, Proto-Germanic lausaz, and Proto-Indo-European roots ḱóm and ḱe.

shapeless (English): without a clearly defined or identifiable shape

Definitions

  1. without a clearly defined or identifiable shape

Ancestry of “shapeless”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishschaples—
2Middle English-lesLacking ; without
3Turkish-lewith, shortened form of ile; by, shortened form...
4Turkishilewith; and
5Ottoman Turkishایله—
6Old Anatolian Turkishاِیلَه—
7Proto-Turkicbilewith, together, also

Words derived from “shapeless”

  • shapelessness
  • shapelessly
Every word from Proto-Turkic bile →