boneless C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈboʊnləs/ UK /ˈbəʊnləs/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj having no bones; also figuratively lacking firmness or courage She ordered the boneless chicken to avoid fiddling with bones. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · having no bones; also... filleteddeboned ↔ Opposites bony Word family Derived forms bonelesslybonelessness Related forms bonebony Etymology AI details From bone + -less. Bone descends from Old English bān ('bone'), from Proto-Germanic *bainą. bān Old English *bainą Proto-Germanic View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # boneless **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈboʊnləs/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈbəʊnləs/ ## Meanings 1. having no bones; also figuratively lacking firmness or courage ## Examples - She ordered the boneless chicken to avoid fiddling with bones. ## Synonyms - filleted - deboned ## Antonyms - bony ## Derived Forms - bonelessly - bonelessness ## Related Forms - bone - bony ## Roots and Affixes - Root: bān - Root: *bainą ## Etymology From bone + -less. Bone descends from Old English bān ('bone'), from Proto-Germanic *bainą. ## AI Etymology Boneless comes from bone + -less. Bone descends from Old English bān ('bone'), from Proto-Germanic *bainą. The historical trail runs through bān in Old English and *bainą in Proto-Germanic. Morphologically, boneless is transparent: it draws on bone + -less. Used as an adjective, boneless now means "having no bones; also figuratively lacking firmness or courage", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as bonelessly and bonelessness and related forms such as bone and bony. The modern word remains analyzable through its parts, which makes the semantic connection unusually direct. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown