Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “woful” come from?

Woful derives from Old English hwā through Old English -ful, ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European weyk- and pleh₁-, which also connect to weǵʰ-.

woful (English): Obsolete spelling of woeful

Definitions

  1. Obsolete spelling of woeful

Ancestry of “woful”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishWothe prefix of catalog entries in the Gliese star...
2EnglishWHO—
3Middle Englishwho—
4Old Englishhwāwho
5Proto-West Germanichwaʀwho
6Proto-Germanichwazwho, what; whose; whom
7Proto-Indo-EuropeankʷosSee *kʷis
8Proto-Indo-Europeankʷ-The primary interrogative root

Words derived from “woful”

  • wofully
  • wofulness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European kʷ- →