Etymology

idleness

idle·ness
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Today it means: The state of being idle; inactivity. Full definition →

Middle English ydelnesse ← Old English īdelnes ← Proto-West Germanic *īdlanassī
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*īdlanassī
  2. Old English · inherited fromīdelnes
  3. Middle English · inherited fromydelnesse
  4. English todayidleness

From Middle English ydelnesse, from Old English īdelnes, from Proto-West Germanic *īdlanassī, equivalent to idle + -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian īdelnisse (“idelness”), obsolete Dutch ijdelnis, Old Saxon īdalnussi (“idleness, vanity”), Old High German ītalnissa (“idleness, vanity, emptiness”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.