Etymology

shiftless

S1H4I1F4T1L1E1S1S1

Today it means: Lazy, unmotivated. Full definition →

Proto-Germanic *lausaz ← Proto-Indo-European *lewHs- ← English shift
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Englishshift
  2. Proto-Indo-European*lewh₁-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*lewHs-
  4. Proto-Germanic*leusaną
  5. Proto-Germanic*lausaz
  6. English todayshiftless

From shift + -less.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.