Lukewarm Definition

Origin of Lukewarm

• From Middle English lukewarme (“lukewarm, tepid"), equivalent to luke (“lukewarm") +"Ž warm. First element believed to be an alteration of Middle English lew (“tepid") (> English dialectal lew), from Old English hlÄ“ow (“warm, sunny"), from Proto-Germanic *hliwjaz, *hlÄ“waz, *hlÅ«maz, *hleumaz (“warm"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱel(w)e-, *k(')lÄ“w- (“warm, hot"). Cognate with Dutch lauw (“tepid"), German lauwarm (“lukewarm"), Faroese lýggjur (“warm"), Swedish ljum (“lukewarm"), ljummen (“lukewarm") and ly (“warm"), Danish lummer (“muggy"), Danish and Norwegian lunken (“tepid"), Swedish dialectal ljummen (“lukewarm").

  From Wiktionary

• Middle English leukwarm leuk, luke (possibly alteration of leu) (from Old English hlēow kelə-¹ in Indo-European roots) warm warm warm

  From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition