Etymograph

English

littling

Littling comes from Old English lȳtling ‘a little one, child’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lūtilaz1reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lūtil1‘little’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳtel2‘small, little’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳtling3as litling‘a little one, child’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*litling3reconstructed
  6. Englishtodaylittling3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English lytel
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English lytling
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English littling

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lūtilazWiktionary, Old English lytelreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lūtilWiktionary, Old English lytel‘little’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳtelWiktionary, Old English lytling‘small, little’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳtlingWiktionary, English littlingas litling‘a little one, child’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*litlingWiktionary, English littlingreconstructed
  6. EnglishtodaylittlingWiktionary, English littling

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz

lit

Today it means

noun A little one; a child.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “littling”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old English lytel, Old English lytling. 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-Germanic *lūtilaz / littling

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