Where does “whimsy” come from?

Whimsy derives from English whim-wham, combining English whim with a reduplicative suffix ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos.

whimsy (English): A quaint and fanciful idea; a whim; playfully odd...

Definitions

  1. A quaint and fanciful idea; a whim; playfully odd...

Ancestry of “whimsy”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishwhimA fanciful impulse, or whimsical idea; A large...
2Englishwhim-whamA whimsical object; a trinket; A whim or fancy

Words derived from “whimsy”

Every word from English whim-wham →