Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “-some” come from?

-some (Middle English) comes from Old English -sum, from Proto-West Germanic -sam.

Ancestry of “-some”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old English-sumcharacterized by some specific condition or...
2Proto-West Germanic-sam—

Words derived from “-some”

  • troublesome
  • awesome
  • tiresome
  • cumbersome
  • burdensome
  • lonesome
  • gruesome
  • autosomal
  • fearsome
  • quarrelsome
  • toilsome
  • worrisome
  • ribosomal
  • ribosome
  • noisome
  • fulsome
  • bothersome
  • venturesome
  • lysosomal
  • trisomy
  • meddlesome
  • threesome
  • nucleosome
  • foursome
Every word from Proto-West Germanic -sam →