Etymology

sleepy

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Today it means: Tired; feeling the need for sleep. Full definition →

Middle English slepy ← Old English *slǣpiġ ← Proto-West Germanic *slāpag
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*slēpaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*slāp
  3. Proto-West Germanic*slāpag
  4. Old English*slǣpiġ
  5. Middle Englishslepy
  6. English todaysleepy

From Middle English slepy, from Old English *slǣpiġ (attested in unslǣpiġ (“sleepless”)), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpag (“sleepy”), equivalent to sleep + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian släipich (“sleepy”), West Frisian sliepich (“sleepy”), dialectal Dutch slapig, slepig (“sleepy”), German Low German slapig, släpig, slöpig (“sleepy”), archaic German schlafig (“sleepy”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.