Goode

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An older spelling of the adjective good, meaning morally right, pleasant, or of high quality
2. A former written form of good, used in earlier English to mean virtuous, desirable, or satisfactory
3. An obsolete variant spelling of good, found in early English texts with the sense of excellent or worthy

Etymology: "Goode" is simply the older spelling of "good", and the spelling was common in Middle English, when the word was written with a final "e" that later fell silent. The adjective goes back to Old English "gōd", which descends from a Proto-Germanic form "gōdaz" meaning "good". Its deeper ancestor is a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to unite, be associated, suit, fit," which is why "good" is related to "gather" and "together" rather than to "God," despite the apparent resemblance. The word's original sense was closer to "fitting" or "suitable" than to moral goodness, a meaning still visible in cognates such as Russian "gódnyj" ("fit, well-suited") and Polish "godny" ("worthy"). Many Germanic languages keep this range, with Dutch "goed" and German "gut" covering both "good" and "well." Middle English also had a rival: "bon," "bone," "boon," and "boun," borrowed from Old French "bon," from Latin "bonus." Native "good" ultimately eclipsed these borrowings and survived as the everyday word, while the French-derived forms faded away except in a few fixed uses.