Where does “wonderful” come from?
Wonderful comes from Middle English wonderful, from Old English wundorful, combining Old English wundor with the suffix -ful, ultimately from Proto-Germanic wundrą and Proto-Indo-European wen-, both meaning to be astonished.
wonderful (English): Tending to excite wonder; surprising,...
Definitions
- Tending to excite wonder; surprising,...
Ancestry of “wonderful”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | wonderful | — |
| 2 | Old English | wundorful | wonderful, glorious |
| 3 | Old English | -ful | full of; -ful |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | -fullaz | -ful |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | fullaz | full; the whole, the entire |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pl̥h₁nós | full |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pleh₁- | to fill |
Words derived from “wonderful”