Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “ticklish” come from?

Ticklish comes from English tickle plus the suffix -isch in Middle English, -isċ in Old English, -isk in Proto-West Germanic, -iskaz in Proto-Germanic, and -iskos in Proto-Indo-European.

ticklish (English): Sensitive or susceptible to being tickled;...

Definitions

  1. Sensitive or susceptible to being tickled;...

Ancestry of “ticklish”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-ishTypical of, similar to, being like; Somewhat,...
2Middle English-ishAlternative form of -yssh
3Old English-isċ-ish
4Proto-West Germanic-iskCreates adjectives from nouns
5Proto-Germanic-iskazForms adjectives from nouns with the sense of...
6Proto-Indo-European-iskosCharacteristic of, typical of, pertaining to

Words derived from “ticklish”

  • ticklishness
  • ticklishly
  • unticklish
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -iskos →