Where does “steely” come from?
Steely comes from English steel with the suffix -y, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European -kos through Latin -ia, -ivus, and Middle French -ie via French Bastille.
steely (English): Having qualities resembling those of steel,...
Definitions
- Having qualities resembling those of steel,...
Ancestry of “steely”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | steel | An artificial metal produced from iron, harder... |
| 2 | English | -ville | Used to form a name of an inhabited place, a town... |
| 3 | French | ville | town, city |
| 4 | Middle French | ville | city or town |
| 5 | Old French | ville | city or town |
| 6 | Latin | vīlla | country house; villa |
| 7 | Latin | vetera | the old; old times, ancient times, antiquity |
| 8 | Latin | vetus | old, aged, elderly, ancient; long-standing;... |
| 9 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |