"A" Word Origins

afam

Origin

Possibly an acronym of a foreigner around Manila.

Afar

Origin

Borrowed from Afar qafár.

aff

Origin

A clipped form of "affirmative."

affable

Latin

From French affable, from Latin affabilis, built on the verb for "to speak to" — the same root family as "fable."

affair

Latin

From Old French a faire, "to do" — literally "(something) to be done" — going back to Latin ad + facere ("to do").

affect

Latin

From Latin afficere, "to act upon, influence."

affection

Latin

From Old French affection, from Latin affectio, related to the verb affect — originally meaning any state or change brought on by an emotion.

affectionate

Latin

A learned borrowing from Latin affectionatus — built on affection plus the adjective ending -ate. It shares its root with "aficionado."

affectionately

Origin

From affectionate plus the adverb ending -ly.

affective

Origin

From Medieval Latin affectivus, from Latin affectus, past participle of afficere (“to affect”). By surface analysis, affect + -ive.

affiance

Origin

From Middle French affiance, from affier (from Medieval Latin affīdāre, from *fīdāre, from Latin fīdere) + -ance.

affiant

Origin

From affy (“(obsolete) to have faith in, trust; to formally affirm or promise; etc.”) + -ant (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs).

affidavit

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin affidavit, literally "he/she has sworn" — related to fidelity and faith, though not to the word "affirm," which comes from a different Latin root.

affiliate

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin affiliatus, "adopted as a son" — from ad- plus filius, "son."

affiliation

Latin

From French affiliation, from Latin affiliatio, "adoption," ultimately from filius, "son."

affinity

Latin

From Old French affinité, ultimately from Latin affinitas, originally referring to a relationship formed through marriage rather than blood.

affirm

Latin

From Old French afermer, from Latin affirmare, "to make firm" — built from ad- plus firmus, "firm."

affirmation

Latin

From Old French afermacion, from Latin affirmare, "to assert."

affirmative

Latin

From Old French affirmatif, from Latin affirmativus, from affirmare, "to assert."

affirming

Origin

From Middle English affermynge; equivalent to affirm + -ing.

affix

Origin

Borrowed from Latin affixus, perfect passive participle of affigere (from ad- + figere). By surface analysis, af- + fix.

afflatus

Origin

Unadapted borrowing from Latin afflātus (“breath, blowing or breathing on, spiritual inspiration”), from afflō (“to blow, breathe on or towards”) + -tus (forming action nouns), from ad- (“to, towards”) + flō (“breathe, blow”). See also af-.

Affleck

Origin

A Scottish surname taken from the village of Auchinleck in Ayrshire.

afflict

Origin

From Middle English afflicten (attested in past participle afflicte), from Latin afflīctō (“to damage, harass, torment”), from ad- + flīctus, past participle of afflīgō (“strike, beat”), from ad- + flīgō (“strike”) (whence af-).

affliction

Latin

From Old French afliction, from Latin afflictio, "torment," from the verb affligere, "to strike or beat down" — related to "af-" plus "fligere," to strike.

affluence

Origin

From Old French affluence, from Latin affluentia. Only relation to antonym indigence is common Latinate suffix; affluence only acquired sense of wealth in 16th century English and French, while indigentia meant “poverty” or “lack” in Latin.

affluent

Latin

From Latin affluens, "flowing toward" or "overflowing," from ad- plus fluere, "to flow" — the wealth sense developed from the image of a plentiful flow of goods.

afford

Old English

From Old English geforthian, "to further or accomplish" — ultimately related to the word "forth."

affordable

Origin

From afford plus the suffix -able, "able to be done."

affray

Origin

From Middle English affraien (“to terrify, frighten”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”) and Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”) (compare modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre. The second part of this is in turn from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). Cognate with Old High German fridu (“peace”), Old English friþ (“peace, frith”), Old English frēod (“peace, friendship”), German Friede (“peace”). More at free, friend.

affreux

Origin

Borrowed from French affreux.

affright

Origin

From Middle English afrighten, from Old English āfyrhtan, equivalent to a- + fright.

affront

Latin

From Old French afronter, "to hit in the face" or "to defy," from Latin ad- plus frons, "forehead" — the same root as "front."

Afghan

Persian

From Persian afghan, ultimately from an old Bactrian word thought to mean roughly "people from a distant land."

afghani

Persian

From Persian afgani, derived from afghan.

Afghanistan

Persian

From Persian Afghanistan, meaning roughly "land of the Afghans" — Afghan plus the suffix -istan, "land of."

aficionado

Spanish

From Spanish aficionado, originally "fan of bullfighting" — a doublet of the English word "affectionate."

afield

Old English

From Old English on felde, literally "in the field," combined with the "a-" prefix meaning "on/in."

afire

Middle English

From Middle English afire, combining the "a-" prefix ("on") with "fire."

AFK

English

An initialism of away from keyboard.

aflame

Latin

From Middle English a-flame, combining the "a-" prefix ("on") with "flame," ultimately from Latin flamma.

afloat

Old English

From Old English a- ("on") plus "float."

afoot

Old English

Literally "on foot," from Old English on fot; the figurative "in progress" sense developed later.

afore

Old English

From Old English onforan or ætforan, built from a- ("on") plus "fore."

aforehand

Origin

From Middle English aforehande, equivalent to afore- + hand. Compare Scots aforehaund.

aforementioned

Origin

From afore ("before") plus "mentioned."

aforesaid

Origin

From Middle English aforesaid(e), aforeseid(e), past participle of aforesayen, aforeseyen, aforeseien, aforeseggen; formed with the prefix afore- and the several forms of seien (“to say”). Equivalent to afore- + said.

afraid

Old French

From Middle English affrayed, the past participle of a verb meaning "to disturb the peace," ultimately from Old French — the same root that gives us "affray."