Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “worldly” come from?

Worldly comes from Old English woruldlīċ, from Proto-Germanic weraldilīkaz, a compound of "world" and a suffix meaning "like" or "of the nature of."

worldly (English): Concerned with human or earthly matters, physical...

Definitions

  1. Concerned with human or earthly matters, physical...

Ancestry of “worldly”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishworldly—
2Old Englishworuldlīċ—
3Proto-Germanicweraldilīkaz—

Words derived from “worldly”

  • unworldly
  • unworldliness
  • worldlywise
  • worldlily
Every word from Proto-Germanic weraldilīkaz →