English
featherless
Featherless comes from Middle English fethirles.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fethirles
- Englishearliest quotation 1911featherless
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fethirles
- Englishearliest quotation 1911featherless
Earliest quotation: 1911, D. H. Lawrence, The White Peacock: “He eyed me with contempt: great featherless, half winged…”
Formed from feather + -less
Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- ‘to fly’
…
Proto-Germanic *feþrō
Proto-West Germanic *feþru
Old English feþer
Middle English fethere ‘a wing feather’
English feather
Every English word from Middle English fethirles
Today it means
adj Having no feathers.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English fethirles / featherless