The Etymology of Likewise
Likewise is a compound that preserves a ghost. The like- half is straightforward — it means 'similar', as it has since Old English. But the -wise half is a word that has almost entirely vanished from independent use. Old English wīse meant 'manner, way, fashion' and was a common, freestanding noun. People said things 'in this wise' or 'in no wise' without thinking twice. Over the centuries, wīse lost its independence and survived only as a suffix locked inside compounds: likewise, otherwise, clockwise, lengthwise, crosswise. The standalone phrase 'in no wise' lingered in biblical and legal language but disappeared from speech. The compound likewise first appeared in the 15th century as two separate words — lyke wyse — meaning 'in like manner'. It fused into a single word during the 16th century and gradually acquired a secondary social function: a polite response meaning 'the same to you'. When someone says 'Nice to meet you' and you reply 'Likewise', you are deploying a 500-year-old adverb as conversational shorthand. The -wise suffix has recently become productive again in informal English — people say 'weather-wise', 'budget-wise', 'taste-wise' — reviving a word-formation pattern that Old English speakers would recognise immediately, even if purists sometimes object to it.