Wundorful

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Extremely pleasing or remarkable, causing great admiration and delight in the one who experiences it
2. A variant, archaic spelling of an adjective meaning marvelous or astonishingly good, inspiring wonder
3. Describing something so excellent or astonishing that it fills the observer with awe and pleasure

Etymology: Your spelling, "wundorful," is an Old English form of today's "wonderful." The Old English noun "wundor" meant a marvel, a prodigy, or something that provoked astonishment, and "-full" was a full, independent word meaning "full of." Joined together, "wundorfull" meant "full of marvel," and it was used to describe things that were remarkable, strange, or miraculous. The adjective was already attested in Old English, so this is not a later coinage. Over the centuries the spelling shifted. The "u" in the first syllable became "o," and the "-ful" ending was reduced and then stopped being pronounced as a separate word. The "-der-" in the modern spelling reflects a sound that came into the word through the noun's later forms. The noun "wonder" has Germanic cognates in Old Saxon, Old High German, and Old Norse, but its ultimate origin is uncertain.