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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

much

/mʌt͡ʃ/
A large amount of.

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    Origin

    From Middle English muche (“much, great”), apocopated variant of muchel (“much, great”), from Old English myċel, miċel (“big, much”), from Proto-West Germanic *mikil, from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂- (“big, stour, great”). See also mickle, muckle.

    Cognates

    Cognate with Scots mickle, mukill, mekil, mikil (“big, large, great, much”), Middle Dutch mēkel (“great, many, much”), Middle High German michel ("great, many, much"; > German michel (“great, big, large”)), Norwegian Bokmål mye (“much”), Norwegian Nynorsk mykje (“much”), Swedish mycket (“much”), Danish meget (“much”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils, “great, many”), Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “large, great”), Modern Greek μεγάλος (megálos, “large, great”).

    Note that English much is not related to Spanish mucho, and their resemblance in both form and meaning is purely coincidental, as mucho derives from Latin multus and is not related to the Germanic forms. Instead, related to Spanish maño.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishmuche
      • derivedMiddle Englishmuchel “big”
        • inheritedOld Englishmiċel “big”
          • inheritedProto-West Germanic*mikil
            • inheritedProto-Germanic*mikilaz “great, large; many, much”
              • partProto-Germanic*-ilaz
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*-lós
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*-trom
                  • derivedProto-Indo-European*-tḗr

    Related: Scots mickle, Middle Dutch mekel, Middle High German michel, German michel, Norwegian Bokmål mye, Norwegian Nynorsk mykje, Swedish mycket, Danish meget, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃, Ancient Greek μέγᾰς, Greek μεγάλος, Spanish maño

    Words built on it: much as

    Meanings

    det
    1. A large amount of.
    2. Used to indicate, demonstrate or compare the quantity of something.
    3. A great number of; many (people).
    4. many ( + plural countable noun).
    adj
    1. Large, great.
    2. Long in duration.
    adv
    1. To a great extent.
    2. for emphasis or to indicate a great difference
    3. Often; frequently.
    4. Used to indicate or compare extent.
    5. Combining with an adjective or (occasionally) a noun, used in a rhetorical question to mock someone for having the specified quality.
    6. Almost.
    pron
    1. A large amount or great extent; a lot.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: much