English

get-nothing

From get + nothing.

A compound of get + nothing

Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to take, seize’

Proto-Germanic *getaną ‘to find; to acquire, get’

Old Norse geta ‘to get’

Middle English geten ‘to get’

English get

Old English nān þing ‘nothing’

Old English nāþing ‘nothing’

Middle English nothyng ‘not any thing’

Today it means

noun A lazy person; an idler; a layabout.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / get-nothing