Etymology

stealth

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Today it means: The attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others. Full definition →

Middle English stelthe ← Old English stǣlþ ← Proto-Germanic *stēliþō
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*stelaną“to steal, to sneak”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*stēliþō
  3. Old English · inherited fromstǣlþ
  4. Middle English · inherited fromstelthe
  5. English todaystealth

From Middle English stelthe, from Old English stǣlþ, from Proto-Germanic *stēliþō, to Proto-Germanic *stelaną (“to steal, to sneak”) + *-iþō, equivalent to steal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old English stalu (“theft, stealth”), Old High German stāla (“theft”), German Diebstahl (“theft”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*stelaną all →

stolen

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.