English
houndly
Houndly comes from Old English hundlīċ ‘of or like dogs, canine’, and goes back to hund.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hund1
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hundlīċ2‘of or like dogs, canine’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500houndly2
- Englishearliest quotation 1865houndly2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Old English hundlic
- 2 Wiktionary, English houndly
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1865, Baily's Magazine of sports and pastimes: “[...] all of which really ought to be secondary…”.
Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hundWiktionary, Old English hundlic
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hundlīċWiktionary, English houndly‘of or like dogs, canine’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500houndlyWiktionary, English houndly
- Englishearliest quotation 1865houndlyWiktionary, English houndly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1865, Baily's Magazine of sports and pastimes: “[...] all of which really ought to be secondary…”
Formed from hound + -ly
Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ ‘dog’
Proto-Germanic *hundaz ‘dog’
Proto-West Germanic *hund ‘dog’
Old English hund
Middle English hound ‘a hunting or sporting dog’
English hound
Linked words
through Old English hund
Today it means
adj Of, like, or characteristic of hounds or dogs; doglike; dogly; canine.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “houndly”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English hundlic. 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 hund / houndly