Etymology

worthless

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Today it means: Having no worth or use; without value. Full definition →

Middle English *worthles ← Old English weorþlēas
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromweorþlēas“worthless”
  2. Middle English · inherited from*worthles
  3. English todayworthless

From Middle English *worthles, from Old English weorþlēas (“worthless”), equivalent to worth + -less. Cognate with Dutch waardeloos (“worthless”), German wertlos (“worthless”), Swedish värdelös (“worthless”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.