much

Definition

A large amount of.

Etymology

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.

Example Sentences

• "Do you think I have much chance of catching the train on time?"
• "After much discussion, we decided to set about the task with much enthusiasm."
• "Much of literature is concerned with stylistics."