Etymology

overearnest

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Today it means: Excessively earnest Full definition →

English earnest ← Middle English over- ← Old English ofer-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Englishearnest
  8. English todayoverearnest

From over- + earnest.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.