Etymology

sleeveless

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Today it means: Of a garment, having no sleeves. Full definition →

Middle English slevelees ← Old English slīeflēas
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromslīeflēas“sleeveless”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromslevelees
  3. English todaysleeveless

From Middle English slevelees, sleveles, from Old English slīeflēas (“sleeveless”), equivalent to sleeve + -less.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.