lukewarm

English

Etymology

From Middle English leukwarm, lukewarm (“lukewarm, tepid”), equivalent to luke (“lukewarm”) +‎ warm. Compare Saterland Frisian luukwoarm (“lukewarm”), German Low German luukwarm (“lukewarm”), German lauwarm (“lukewarm”). 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 (“warm”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱel(w)e-, *k(')lēw- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with Dutch lauw (“tepid”), German lau (“lukewarm”), Faroese lýggjur (“warm”), Swedish ljum (“lukewarm”), ljummen (“lukewarm”) and ly (“warm”), Danish lummer (“muggy”), Danish and Norwegian lunken (“tepid”), dialectal Swedish ljummen (“lukewarm”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌluːkˈwɔːm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌlukˈwɔɹm/, /ˈluk.wɔɹm/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

lukewarm (comparative lukewarmer or more lukewarm, superlative lukewarmest or most lukewarm)

1. (temperature) Between warm and cool.

   Wash it in lukewarm water.

   My curry is lukewarm.

2. Unenthusiastic (about a proposal or an idea).

   The suggestion met with only a lukewarm response.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

Synonyms

• lew (dialect)
• luke (rare)
• tepid

Derived terms

Translations