darling

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈdɑɹlɪŋ/ UK /ˈdɑːlɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Freq #696

Meanings

1

noun
A person you love very much, often used as a loving way to address someone.

Would you pass me the salt, darling?
2

adj
Dearly loved or much cherished.

She is my darling wife of twenty years.
3

adj
Very charming, cute, or lovable.

What a darling little cottage!

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person you love very... dear sweetheart

2 adj · dearly loved or much... dear

3 adj · very charming, cute, or... adorable charming

Word family

Forms darlings

Derived forms darldarlinghooddarlinglikedarlinglydarlingnessdilling

Appears in

Proverbs (1)

See all

Murder your darlings

Simplified etymology

Darling originated in Old English as a pet form of dear. Its base belongs to a Germanic family expressing both affection and high value.

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature…

*dʰegʷʰ- Proto-Indo-European dereling,derelyng Middle English dīerling,dēorling Old English *diuriling Proto-West Germanic *diurijalingaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# darling

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈdɑɹlɪŋ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdɑːlɪŋ/
**Frequency rank:** 696

## Meanings
1. A person you love very much, often used as a loving way to address someone.
2. Dearly loved or much cherished.
3. Very charming, cute, or lovable.

## Examples
- Would you pass me the salt, darling?
- She is my darling wife of twenty years.
- What a darling little cottage!

## Derived Forms
- darl
- darlinghood
- darlinglike
- darlingly
- darlingness
- dilling

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *dʰegʷʰ-
- Root: dereling,derelyng
- Root: dīerling,dēorling
- Root: *diuriling
- Root: *diurijalingaz

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature…

## AI Etymology
For darling, the noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). Current senses include A person you love very much, often used as a loving way to address someone and Dearly loved or much cherished. English relatives and later formations include darl, darlinghood, darlinglike.

## Topics
- People & Society

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