Etymology

aboutness

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Today it means: The relevance of a text to its reader. Full definition →

First used First attested in the early 20ᵗʰ century.English about ← Middle English aboute ← Old English onbūtan
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*ana-
  2. Proto-West Germanic*ana-
  3. Old Englishon-?
  4. Proto-West Germanic*bī
  5. Proto-West Germanic*bi-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*úd
  7. Proto-Germanic*ūt
  8. Proto-West Germanic*ūtō
  9. Proto-West Germanic*ūtan
  10. Proto-West Germanic*biūtan
  11. Old Englishbūtan
  12. Old Englishonbūtan
  13. Middle Englishaboute
  14. Englishabout
  15. English todayaboutness

From about + -ness.

First known use, by meaning

  • First attested in the early 20ᵗʰ century. The relevance of a text to its reader.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.