Etymology

toothless

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Today it means: Having no teeth. Full definition →

Middle English tothles ← Old English tōþlēas ← Proto-Germanic *tanþlausaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*tanþlausaz“toothless”
  2. Old English · inherited fromtōþlēas
  3. Middle English · inherited fromtothles
  4. English todaytoothless

From Middle English tothles, from Old English tōþlēas, from Proto-Germanic *tanþlausaz (“toothless”), equivalent to tooth + -less. Cognate with Dutch tandeloos (“toothless”), German Low German tannlos (“toothless”), German zahnlos (“toothless”), Danish tandløs (“toothless”), Swedish tandlös (“toothless”), Icelandic tannlaus (“toothless”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.