much

much · determiner, adjective, adverb, pronoun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*méǵh₂s
2. Proto-Germanic*mikilaz
3. Proto-West Germanic*mikil
4. Old Englishmiċel
5. Middle Englishmuchel
6. Middle Englishmuche
7. English todaymuch

From Middle English muche (“much, great”), apocopated variant of muchel (“much, great”), from Old English myċel, miċel (“big, much”), from Proto-West Germanic *mikil, from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂- (“big, stour, great”). See also mickle, muckle. Cognates Cognate with Scots mickle, mukill, mekil, mikil (“big, large, great, much”), Middle Dutch mēkel (“great, many, much”), Middle High German michel ("great, many, much"; > German michel (“great, big, large”)), Norwegian Bokmål mye (“much”), Norwegian Nynorsk mykje (“much”), Swedish mycket (“much”), Danish meget (“much”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils, “great, many”), Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “large, great”), Modern Greek μεγάλος (megálos, “large, great”). Note that English much is not related to Spanish mucho, and their resemblance in both form and meaning is purely coincidental, as mucho derives from Latin multus and is not related to the Germanic forms. Instead, related to Spanish maño.

Much · proper noun²

1. German · borrowed fromMuch
2. English todayMuch

Two main origins: * Borrowed from German Much. * A variant of Mutch.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 13th c. A large amount of.
• from 13th c. A great number of; many (people).
• from 13th c. many ( + plural countable noun).
• 12th–16th c. Large, great.