Etymograph

English

guilty

Guilty comes from Middle English gilty, from Old English gyltiġ ‘guilty, culpable’, from gylt ‘guilt’ + -iġ.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150gylt1‘guilt’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150gyltiġ2‘offending’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gilty2
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1848guilty2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English gyltig
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English guilty
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray: “Don’t you see that we have been playing a…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150gyltWiktionary, Old English gyltig‘guilt’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150gyltiġWiktionary, English guilty‘offending’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500giltyWiktionary, English guilty
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1848guiltyWiktionary, English guilty. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray: “Don’t you see that we have been playing a…”

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Today it means

adj Responsible for a dishonest act.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “guilty”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English gyltig. 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 / Old English gylt / guilty