liking

c.1200, "a similar thing" (to another), from like (adj.).

"having the same characteristics or qualities" (as another), Middle English shortening of Old English gelic "like, similar," from Proto-Germanic *galika- "having the same form," literally "with a corresponding body" (cf. Old Saxon gilik, Dutch gelijk, German gleich, Gothic galeiks "equally, like"), a compound of *ga- "with, together" + Germanic base *lik- "body, form; like, same" (cf. Old English lic "body," German Leiche "corpse," Danish lig, Swedish lik, Dutch lijk "body, corpse"). Analogous, etymologically, to Latin conform. The modern form (rather than *lich) may be from a northern descendant of the Old English word's Norse cognate, glikr.

Formerly with comparative liker and superlative likest (still in use 17c.). The preposition (c.1200) and the adverb (c.1300) both are from the adjective. As a conjunction, first attested early 16c. The word has been used as a postponed filler ("going really fast, like") from 1778; as a presumed emphatic ("going, like, really fast") from 1950, originally in counterculture slang and bop talk. Phrase more like it "closer to what is desired" is from 1888.

Old English lician "to please, be sufficient," from Proto-Germanic *likjan (cf. Old Norse lika, Old Frisian likia, Old High German lihhen, Gothic leikan "to please"), from *lik- "body, form; like, same."

The basic meaning seems to be "to be like" (see like (adj.)), thus, "to be suitable." Like (and dislike) originally flowed the other way: It likes me, where we would say I like it. The modern flow began to appear late 14c. (cf. please).

In addition to the idioms beginning with like

• like a bat out of hell
• like a bump on a log
• like a cat on hot bricks
• like a champ
• like a chicken with its head cut off
• like a drowned rat
• like a fish out of water
• like a house afire
• like a lamb to the slaughter
• like anything
• like a shot
• like as not
• like as two peas in a pod
• like a ton of bricks
• like clockwork
• like crazy
• like death warmed over
• like father, like son
• like fun
• like gangbusters
• like greased lightning
• like hell
• like hot cakes, go
• like it or lump it
• likely as not
• like mad
• like nobody's business
• like nothing on earth
• like pigs in clover
• like pulling teeth
• like rolling off a log
• like shooting fish in a barrel
• likes of, the
• like something the cat dragged in
• like that
• like to
• like water off a duck's back

also see:

• and the like
• avoid like the plague
• come up (smelling like) roses
• crazy like a fox
• drink like a fish
• drop like flies
• Dutch uncle, talk to like a
• eat like a bird
• feel like
• (like a) fish out of water
• fit like a glove
• fly on the wall, would like to be a
• get on (like a house afire)
• go out (like a light)
• go over (like a lead balloon)
• grin like a Cheshire cat
• (drop like a) hot potato
• just like that
• know like a book
• live like a king
• look like a million dollars
• look like death
• look like something the cat dragged in
• look like the cat that ate the canary
• make out like a bandit
• manna from heaven, like
• mind like a steel trap
• need like a hole in the head
• no fool like an old fool
• not anything like
• no time like the present
• out like a light
• packed in like sardines
• sleep like a log
• something like
• spread like wildfire
• stick out (like a sore thumb)
• swear like a trooper
• take to (like a duck to water)
• tell it like it is
• treat like dirt
• turn up like a bad penny
• wail like a banshee
• watch like a hawk
• work like a beaver
• work like a charm