Without a cook; lacking someone to do the cooking.
From 'cook' plus the suffix '-less,' which means 'without' or 'lacking.' The '-less' suffix comes from Old English and is a productive way to create opposite meanings.
The '-less' suffix is how English creates negatives without needing a separate word—instead of saying 'without cook' (like other languages), we combine it into one word, a feature that makes English beautifully compact.
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