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

  1. Tending to excite wonder; surprising,...

Ancestry of “wonderful”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishwonderful—
2Old Englishwundorfulwonderful, glorious
3Old English-fulfull of; -ful
4Proto-Germanic-fullaz-ful
5Proto-Germanicfullazfull; the whole, the entire
6Proto-Indo-Europeanpl̥h₁nósfull
7Proto-Indo-Europeanpleh₁-to fill

Words derived from “wonderful”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European pleh₁- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European pl̥h₁nós →Every word from Proto-Germanic fullaz →