English
hinderling
Hinderling comes from Middle English hinderling ‘a laggard, coward’, and goes back to Old English hinderling ‘a mean wretch, a sneak’.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hinderling‘a mean wretch, a sneak’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a laggard, coward’
- Englishearliest quotation 1808same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hinderling‘a mean wretch, a sneak’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a laggard, coward’
- Englishearliest quotation 1808same form
Earliest quotation: 1808, Joseph Strutt, Section VII. Chapter II.: “How say you, my lusty compeers; shall we permit…”
Formed from hinder + -ling
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘beside, near, by, with’
…
Proto-Germanic *hinder ‘back’
Proto-Germanic *hindrōną ‘to hinder’
Old English hindrian ‘to hinder, obstruct, repress, impede’
Middle English hindren
English hinder
Every English word from Old English hinderling
Today it means
noun A worthless, degenerate person or animal.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English hinderling / hinderling