likeness

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English liknesse,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English līcnes, a Northumbrian form,^[6][5] apparently shortened from gelīcnes (“likeness, image, resemblance”),^{[7][6][5][4][8]} which continued in Middle English as ylikeness.^[7] That is formed from gelīc (“like, alike”) and the suffix -nes (“-ness”),^[5][9] like its cognates Old Frisian gelīkenisse (“resemblance, image”), Old Saxon gelīknessi (“image, form”), Old High German gilīhnessi (“resemblance, image, parable”), Dutch gelijkenis and German Gleichnis, which now means only "parable".^[7][6][8] For the early northern use the OED compares Old Norse líkneski (“shape, image, metaphor”), which may itself be borrowed from West Germanic.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Outward form, appearance: Old English, in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[7] The same text has the sense "image, portrait".^[7] Merriam-Webster dates the word before the 12th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Old English gelīcnes already covered likeness, image, resemblance and parable,^[8] and the OED records the sense "parable, simile, allegory" for likeness itself from about 1175 to 1753.^[7][9] The abstract sense, the quality of being alike, is recorded from before 1250,^[7] and a point of resemblance, often set against differences, from 1598.^[7] Middle English also used the word for a pretence or show (from about 1384) and for the living embodiment of something abstract (1340–1500).^[7] A person who closely resembles another is a likeness from before 1500.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave three senses: resemblance, form or appearance, and one who resembles another.^[10] To take someone's likeness, to paint or draw a portrait, is recorded from 1711.^[7] In 19th-century dialect a portrait painter was a likeness-drawer in Dumfriesshire, and a camera a likeness-faker in Norfolk.^[11]

Timeline

• Old English – outward form or appearance; an image or portrait.^[7][8]
• c. 1175 – a parable, a simile (obsolete by 1753).^[7][9]
• before 1250 – resemblance, similarity.^[7]
• 1340 – the living representation of something abstract (obsolete by 1500).^[7]
• c. 1384 – a pretence, a false show (obsolete by 1867).^[7]
• before 1500 – a person closely resembling another.^[7]
• 1598 – a point of resemblance.^[7]
• 1711 – to take someone's likeness, to make a portrait.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being alike; resemblance or similarity: There is a strong likeness between the two sisters.^[5][9][7]
2. Outward form or appearance; a guise or semblance: The spirit came to them in the likeness of an old beggar.^[5][9][7]
3. A portrait, picture or other image of a person or thing: The painter caught his likeness well.^[5][9][7]
4. A person who closely resembles another.^[9][7][10]
5. (obsolete, c. 1175–1753) A parable or simile.^[7][9]

Related words

• like
• alike
• liken
• unlikeness

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)