Etymology

dreariness

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Today it means: The characteristic of being dreary. Full definition →

Middle English drerinesse ← Old English drēoriġnys
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromdrēoriġnys“dreariness, sadness”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromdrerinesse
  3. English todaydreariness

From Middle English drerinesse, drerynesse, from Old English drēoriġnys (“dreariness, sadness”), equivalent to dreary + -ness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.