Etymograph

English

wrongfully

Wrongfully comes from Middle English wrongfully ‘evilly, sinfully’, from wrong ‘a wrong, injustice’, 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‘evil, sinful’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrongfully6‘evilly, sinfully’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1595wrongfully6

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, Middle English wrongfully
  6. 6 Wiktionary, English wrongfully
  7. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “If you do wrongfully ſeize Herford's right, / call…”.

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, Middle English wrongfully‘evil, sinful’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wrongfullyWiktionary, English wrongfully‘evilly, sinfully’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1595wrongfullyWiktionary, English wrongfully. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “If you do wrongfully ſeize Herford's right, / call…”

Formed from wrongful + -ly

Proto-Germanic *wringaną ‘to wring, twist’

…

Proto-West Germanic *wrang

Old English wrang ‘rough, uneven’

Middle English wrong ‘a wrong, injustice’

Middle English wrongful ‘wrongful, unethical’

English wrongful

Linked words

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

wrench, wring, 5 more

Today it means

adv In a wrongful manner; unjustly.

Sources

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

Shirt and support for this word