Etymology

boneless

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Today it means: Without bones, especially as pertaining to meat or poultry prepared for eating. Full definition →

Middle English bonles ← Old English bānlēas ← Proto-Germanic *bainalausaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*bainalausaz
  2. Old English · inherited frombānlēas“boneless”
  3. Middle English · inherited frombonles
  4. English todayboneless

From Middle English bonles, banles, from Old English bānlēas (“boneless”), from Proto-Germanic *bainalausaz, equivalent to bone + -less. Cognate with Scots baneless (“boneless”), Dutch beenloos (“boneless; legless”), German beinlos (“legless”), Swedish benlös (“boneless”), Icelandic beinlaus (“boneless”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.