weakling

From weak + -ling. weak comes from Middle English waik, wayk, wayke, weik, weyk, borrowed from Old Norse veikr (“weak”), from Proto-Germanic waikwaz (“weak, yielded, pliant, bendsome”), from wīkwaną (“to cease, fold, yield; to retreat”), from Proto-Indo-European weyg- (“to bend, turn, wind”), from weh₁y- (“to plait, twist, weave, wind; to cover, enclose, wrap”). 2 Cognate with Old English wāc (“bendsome, weak”), stq wook (“soft, gentle, tender”), West Frisian weak (“soft”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”), German weich (“soft, weak”), lb weech (“weak”), Yiddish ווייך (“soft”), Danish veg (“weak”), Faroese and Icelandic veikur (“weak”), Norwegian Bokmål veik, vek (“weak; pliant”), Norwegian Nynorsk veik (“weak”), Swedish vek (“weak, pliant”), Estonian vaik, vaikne (“quiet”), Finnish vaieta (“to fall silent; to be silent; to keep silent; to suppress by not discussing”), izh vaiketa (“quiet down”); also kw gwigh (“winkles”), Irish faocha, faochóg (“periwinkle”), Latin vicis (“change; time; season; succession; lot; place, room, stead”), vieo (“to bend”), Ancient Greek οἴγω (“to open”), Albanian vig (“bier, litter, stretcher”), Lithuanian vyti (“to twist, wind”), be віць (“to twist, weave”), Bulgarian ви́я (“to bend, twist; to roam; to swirl”), Czech vít (“to weave, wind; to wrap”), Polish and hsb wić (“to plait, weave; to wriggle, writhe”), Russian вить (“to wind; to twist, weave”), Serbo-Croatian ви̏ти, vȉti (“to twist”), Slovene viti (“to twist”), Ukrainian ви́ти (“to twist, wind; to plait; to build a nest; to curl”), kmr avêtin, avitin, avîtin, havêtin, havîtin (“to cast, throw”), Persian آویختن (“to hang, suspend”), بیختن (“to sift”), Sanskrit वेग (“speed, impetus; stream; agitation; impetuosity; strength; haste; the flight of an arrow; love; delight; expulsion; semen; attack; constipation”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA