Where does “whimsical” come from?
Whimsical is an English adjective formed from whim with the French suffix -ique, ultimately deriving from Latin -icus and related Latin suffixes -ia, -ivus tracing back to Proto-Indo-European -kos.
whimsical (English): Given to whimsy
Ancestry of “whimsical”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | whimsy | A quaint and fanciful idea; a whim; playfully odd... |
| 2 | English | whim | A fanciful impulse, or whimsical idea; A large... |
| 3 | English | whim-wham | A whimsical object; a trinket; A whim or fancy |
Words derived from “whimsical”