Etymology

lawlessness

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Today it means: A lack of law; a lack of law and order; anarchy. Full definition →

English lawless ← Middle English laweles ← Proto-Germanic *lausaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*legʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic*lagą
  3. Old Norselag
  4. Old Norselǫg
  5. Old Englishlagu
  6. Middle Englishlawe
  7. Proto-Indo-European*lewh₁-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*lewHs-
  9. Proto-Germanic*leusaną
  10. Proto-Germanic*lausaz
  11. Middle Englishlaweles
  12. Englishlawless
  13. English todaylawlessness

From lawless + -ness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.