Etymograph

English

idle

Idle comes from Old English īdel ‘empty, void’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *īdlaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*īdlazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*īdl‘void, empty, ineffective’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150īdel‘empty, void’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500idel
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1628idle

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*īdlazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*īdl‘void, empty, ineffective’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150īdel‘empty, void’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500idel
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1628idle

Earliest quotation: 1628, John Ford: “The youth is idle”.

Linked words

through Old English īdel ‘empty, void’

idly, 3 more

Another origin of idle

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*īdal‘idle, unused’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*īdlēn‘to become empty’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150īdlian‘to be empty, unoccupied’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500idelen‘to make empty, worthless’
  5. Englishtodayidle

Another origin of idle

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*īdl‘void, empty, ineffective’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150īdel‘idleness’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500idel
  4. Englishtodayidle

Today it means

adj Empty, vacant.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *īdlaz / idle

Shirt and support for this word