Etymology

guilty

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Today it means: Responsible for a dishonest act. Full definition →

Middle English gilty ← Old English gyltiġ
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromgyltiġ“offending, guilty”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromgilty
  3. English todayguilty

From Middle English gilty, gulty, from Old English gyltiġ (“offending, guilty”); equivalent to guilt + -y.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.