Etymograph

English

liken

Liken comes from Middle English liknen ‘to be comparable’, and goes back to liken.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500liken‘to be comparable’
  2. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500liknen‘to be comparable’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1548liken

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500liken‘to be comparable’
  2. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500liknen‘to be comparable’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1548liken

Earliest quotation: 1548, Hugh Latimer: “And vvell may the preacher and plovvman be likened…”

Formed from like + -en

Proto-Germanic *līką ‘body’

…

Proto-Germanic *līkāną ‘to conform’

Proto-West Germanic *līkēn ‘to be pleasing’

Old English līcian ‘to like’

Middle English liken ‘to be appealing or pleasant’

English like

The story

Lik is derived from Old English ġelīċ (‘like, similar’), from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (‘like, similar; equal’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (‘like, similar; even, level’). The English word is analysable as like (adjective) + -en (suffix forming verbs with the sense ‘to make [adjective]’).

Every English word from Middle English liken

Today it means

verb Followed by to or (archaic) unto: to regard or state that (someone or something) is like another person or thing; to compare.

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

Etymograph / Middle English liken / liken

Shirt and support for this word