Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “wishful” come from?

Wishful derives from Middle English -ful, Old English -ful, and Proto-Germanic -fullaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pleh₁-, meaning to fill.

wishful (English): Wished-for; desired, wanted; Expressing a wish or...

Definitions

  1. Wished-for; desired, wanted; Expressing a wish or...

Ancestry of “wishful”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishwishA desire, hope, or longing for something or for...
2Middle EnglishfischAn animal that inhabits the water or the meat of...
3Old Englishfisċfish
4Proto-West Germanicfiskfish
5Proto-Germanicfiskazfish
6Indo-European*peysk-—

Words derived from “wishful”

  • wishfully
  • wishfulness
  • unwishful
  • unwishfully
  • unwishfulness
Every word from Indo-European *peysk- →