haughty

The story

1. Latin · derived fromaltus“high, deep”
2. Frankish · derived from*hauh
3. Old French · derived fromhaut
4. Middle English · derived fromhaute“self-important”
5. Middle English · inherited fromhautein
6. English todayhaughty

From earlier hauty, haultic, with spelling change in imitation of English naughty and English high, from Middle English hautein, hautain (with -ein, -ain becoming -y through the form hautenesse standing for *hauteinnesse; see haughtiness), from Middle English haute (“self-important”), from Old French haut, hault (“high, lofty”), from Frankish *hauh, *hōh (“high, lofty, proud”) and Latin altus (“high, deep”).

Words from the same roots