Etymology

sleepless

sleep·less
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Today it means: Characterized by an absence of sleep: wakeful. Full definition →

Middle English slepeles ← Old English slǣplēas
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromslǣplēas
  2. Middle English · inherited fromslepeles
  3. English todaysleepless

From Middle English slepeles, from Old English slǣplēas; equivalent to sleep + -less.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.