English
bottomless
Bottomless comes from Middle English botemles ‘lacking a bottom’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- ‘deep’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewbʰ-1‘deep’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰudʰmḗn2‘bottom’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*butmaz2‘bottom’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botme3‘the bottom portion of a ship's hull, or the line of wood running along it’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botemles4‘lacking a bottom’
- Englishearliest quotation 1954bottomless4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn
- 2 Wiktionary, Middle English botme
- 3 Wiktionary, Middle English botemles
- 4 Wiktionary, English bottomless
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1954, Trevor Holloway, Canada's Transcontinental Routes: “The vast swamps of Southern Ontario proved a grim…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewbʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn‘deep’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰudʰmḗnWiktionary, Middle English botme‘bottom’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*butmazWiktionary, Middle English botme‘bottom’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botmeWiktionary, Middle English botemles‘the bottom portion of a ship's hull, or the line of wood running along it’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botemlesWiktionary, English bottomless‘lacking a bottom’
- Englishearliest quotation 1954bottomlessWiktionary, English bottomless. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1954, Trevor Holloway, Canada's Transcontinental Routes: “The vast swamps of Southern Ontario proved a grim…”
Formed from bottom + -less
Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn
Proto-Germanic *butmaz ‘bottom’
Proto-West Germanic *butm
Old English botm ‘bottom’
Middle English botme
English bottom
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- ‘deep’
deep, depth, dumb, dave, fundamental, dip, deaf, dove, dub, butte, typhus, fonds, profundity, doof, fundus, 19 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ‘bottom’
fund, foundation, founder, fond, bourne, 16 more
through Middle English botme ‘the bottom portion of a ship's hull, or the…’
Today it means
adj Having no bottom.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “bottomless”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn, Middle English botme, Middle English botemles. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- / bottomless