mighty
Meaning
Having or showing great power, strength, or size
Very; extremely (informal)
Structure
Usage
They built a mighty fortress on the hill to defend the kingdom.
He gave the rope a mighty pull to free the trapped vehicle.
That was a mighty impressive performance for such a young musician.
Etymology
The word 'mighty' originates from the Old English adjective mihtiġ, a direct combination of the noun miht (meaning "power, strength, might") and the adjectival suffix -iġ (the ancestor of modern '-y'). The core noun 'might' itself descends from the Proto-Germanic root mahtiz, which is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root magh-, meaning "to be able, to have power." This ancient root also gave rise to words like 'may', 'machine', and 'magistrate' across different language branches. Thus, the literal construction "full of might" evolved seamlessly into its modern sense of possessing great power or force, with its informal adverbial use as an intensifier (e.g., "mighty fine") developing later from this core idea of impressive strength.
Analysis
- might: From Old English miht, meaht (power, strength, authority). A Germanic root. - y: A native English suffix forming adjectives from nouns, meaning "characterized by; full of".