English
look out for number one
Look out for number one comes from English one ‘oneself’.
- English1500–presentone‘oneself’
- Englishearliest quotation 1833look out for number one
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- English1500–presentone‘oneself’
- Englishearliest quotation 1833look out for number one
Earliest quotation: 1833, George Washington Light, Sketches of Character: A Schemer: “S.—Ah—get out. Look out for number one—that's my doctrine;…”
Made of the words look + out + for + number + one
Proto-West Germanic *lōkōn ‘to look’
Old English lōcian ‘to look’
Middle English loken ‘to look’
English look
Proto-Indo-European *úd ‘upwards, away’
Proto-Germanic *ūt ‘out’
Proto-West Germanic *ūt ‘out’
Old English ūt ‘out’
Middle English out
English out
Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- ‘before’
…
Proto-Germanic *furi
Proto-West Germanic *furi
Old English for ‘for’
Middle English for
English for
Proto-Indo-European *nem- ‘to distribute; to give, take’
Proto-Italic *nomezos
Latin numerus ‘number’
Anglo-Norman noumbre
Middle English number
English number
Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos ‘single’
Proto-Germanic *ainaz ‘one’
Proto-West Germanic *ain ‘one’
Old English ān ‘one’
Middle English oon
English one
The story
Attested since the 1830s at the latest.
Every English word from English one
Today it means
verb To act in one's own interests; to act in a manner advantageous primarily to oneself.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / English one / look out for number one