Where does “unmeaning” come from?
Unmeaning comes from English un- and meaning, ultimately tracing through Proto-Indo-European óynos, ano-, ne, and ḱóm in a chain of semantic and morphological development.
unmeaning (English): Having no meaning or significance
Definitions
- Having no meaning or significance
Ancestry of “unmeaning”, step by step
unmeaning traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English meaning
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | meaning | The denotation, referent, or idea connected with... |
| 2 | English | -ing | Used to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns,... |
| 3 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 4 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 5 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 8 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via English un
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | un | One |