Where does “most” come from?

most (Middle English) comes from Old English mǣst, from Proto-Germanic maistaz, from Proto-Germanic mikilaz, from Proto-Indo-European meǵa-.

Ancestry of “most”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishmǣstmost
2Proto-Germanicmaistazsuperlative degree of *mikilaz; most
3Proto-Germanicmikilazgreat, large; much, many
4Proto-Indo-Europeanmeǵa-—

Words derived from “most”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European meǵa- →