Etymograph

English

wrongful

Wrongful comes from Middle English wrongful ‘wrongful, unethical’, from Old English wrang ‘rough, uneven’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wringaną ‘to wring, twist’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wringaną1‘to wring, twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrangaz2‘twisted, warped, bent, crooked, wry’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrang3reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrang2‘rough, uneven’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrong4‘a wrong, injustice’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrongful5‘wrongful, unethical’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1913wrongful5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wrangaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English wrong
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English wrang
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Middle English wrongful
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English wrongful
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1913, Sydney Waterlow: “And now, with the tyranny of wrongful power, "The…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wringanąWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wrangaz‘to wring, twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrangazWiktionary, Middle English wrong‘twisted, warped, bent, crooked, wry’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrangWiktionary, Old English wrangreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrangWiktionary, Middle English wrong‘rough, uneven’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrongWiktionary, Middle English wrongful‘a wrong, injustice’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrongfulWiktionary, English wrongful‘wrongful, unethical’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1913wrongfulWiktionary, English wrongful. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1913, Sydney Waterlow: “And now, with the tyranny of wrongful power, "The…”

Formed from wrong + -ful

Old English wrang ‘wrong, twisted, uneven’

Middle English wrong

English wrong

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *wringaną ‘to wring, twist’

wrench, wring, 5 more

Today it means

adj wrong or unjust

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wrongful”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *wrangaz, Middle English wrong, Old English wrang, Middle English wrongful. 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 *wringaną / wrongful

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