mighty (English)

Where does "mighty" come from?

The English adjective 'mighty' descends through Middle English 'mighty' and Old English 'mihtiġ'[1], tracing back to the Proto-West Germanic form '*mahtīg'[1]. This traveled further back to the Proto-Germanic adjective '*mahtīgaz'[1][2], which was formed by combining '*mahtiz'[3] with the suffix '*-gaz'[3]. The root stretches even further to Proto-Germanic '*maganą' and ultimately to the Proto-Indo-European root '*megʰ-', meaning 'to be able'[6][7].

Open questions

The Proto-Indo-European form is reconstructed as a root or reduplicated root perfect of '*megʰ-'. [7]

Full etymology tree

mighty (English), 'Very strong; possessing might.'
- inherited mighty (Middle English)
  - inherited mihtig (Old English), 'powerful, mighty, able'
    - inherited *mahtīg (Proto-West Germanic), 'mighty, powerful'
      - inherited *mahtīgaz (Proto-Germanic), 'mighty'
        affix *mahtiz (Proto-Germanic), 'power, ability'
        affix *maganą (Proto-Germanic), 'to be able, may'
        derived *(me)mógʰe (Proto-Indo-European), 'to have power, to be able to'
        derived *megʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be able'
        suffix *-þiz (Proto-Germanic), 'Forms abstract nouns from verb roots, usually from strong verbs.'
        suffix *-gaz (Proto-Germanic), '-y; forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a sense of “being, doing, or having”.'

Ancestors

mihtig (Old English)
*mahtīg (Proto-West Germanic)
*mahtīgaz (Proto-Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

machtig (Dutch)
mächtig (German)
machtich (Saterland Frisian)
mäktig (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

high and mighty (English)
how the mighty have fallen (English)
mightily (English)
mightiness (English)
mighty dollar (English)
mighty oaks from little acorns grow (English)
overmighty (English)
unmighty (English)

Sources

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris