Etymology

loss

L1O1S1S1

Today it means: The result of no longer possessing an object, a function, or a characteristic due to external causes or misplacement. Full definition →

Middle English los ← Old English los ← Proto-West Germanic *los
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loss · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*lews-“to cut, sunder, separate, loose, lose”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lusą“dissolution, break-up, loss”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*los
  4. Old English · inherited fromlos“damage, destruction, loss”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromlos
  6. English todayloss

From Middle English los, from Old English los (“damage, destruction, loss”), from Proto-West Germanic *los, from Proto-Germanic *lusą (“dissolution, break-up, loss”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut, sunder, separate, loose, lose”). Cognate with Icelandic los (“dissolution, looseness, break-up”), Old English lor, forlor (“loss, ruin”), Middle High German verlor (“loss, ruin”). More at lose.

loss · verb2

Pronunciation spelling of lost, representing African-American Vernacular English.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishlos all →

los

Old Englishlos all →

los

Proto-Germanic*lusą all →

los

Proto-Indo-European*lews- all →

losleese

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.