lukewarm

Meaning

Adjective

• Between warm and cool.
• Unenthusiastic (about a proposal or an idea).

Related

Similar words

• lew
• luke
• tepid

Origin

• From Middle English leukwarm, lukewarm, equivalent to luke + warm. Compare Saterland Frisian luukwoarm, German Low German luukwarm, German lauwarm. First element believed to be an alteration of Middle English lew ("tepid") (> English dialectal lew), from Old English hlēow ("warm, sunny"), from Proto-Germanic *hliwjaz, *hlēwaz, *hlūmaz, *hleumaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱel(w)e-, *k(')lēw-. Cognate with Dutch lauw ("tepid"), German lau ("lukewarm"), Faroese lýggjur ("warm"), Swedish ljum ("lukewarm"), ljummen and ly, Danish lummer ("muggy"), Danish and Norwegian lunken, dialectal Swedish ljummen ("lukewarm").