Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp. · Boring; not exciting or interesting. · Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness. · Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp. · To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy. · To lose a sharp edge; to become dull. · To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-West Germanic *dol, from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, from earlier *dwulaz, a variant of *dwalaz (“stunned, mad, foolish, misled”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel-, *dʰewel- (“to dim, dull, cloud, make obscure, swirl, whirl”). Cognate with Scots dull, doll (“slow to understand or hear, deaf, dull”), North Frisian dol (“rash, unthinking, giddy, flippant”), Dutch dol (“crazy, mad, insane”), Low German dul, dol (“mad, silly, stupid, fatuous”), German toll (“crazy, mad, wild, fantastic”), Danish dval (“foolish, absurd”), Icelandic dulur (“secretive, silent”), West-Flemish dul (angry, furious).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentiondullenm
- Inherited-form mentiondolang · dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous
- Inherited-form mention*dolgmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*dulazgem-pro
- Inherited-form mention*dʰwel-ine-pro
- Cognate mentiondullsco
- Cognate mentiondolfrr
- Cognate mentiondolnl
- Cognate mentiondulnds
- Cognate mentiontollde
- Cognate mentiondvalda
- Cognate mentionduluris
This page abbreviates 7 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"Boring; not exciting or interesting.",
"Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.",
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