"A" Word Origins

appreciative

Origin

From English appreciate + -ive.

apprehend

Latin

From Old French apprehender, from Latin apprehendere, "to grab hold of," from ad- + prehendere, "to seize."

apprehension

Latin

From Latin apprehensio, "a taking hold of" — the same root as apprehend and comprehend.

apprehensive

Latin

From Latin apprehensivus, related to apprehendere, "to seize" — the sense shifted from "grasping mentally" to "anxious about what's coming."

apprentice

Old French

From Old French aprentis, related to apprendre, "to learn" — from the same root as apprehend.

apprenticeship

Origin

Formed from apprentice plus the suffix -ship, which turns a role into the state or system around it (compare friendship, leadership).

apprise

Origin

PIE word *h₂éd Borrowed from French appris, apprise, the past participle form of apprendre (“to learn; to teach”), from Middle French apprendre, aprendre (“to learn”), from Old French aprendre, aprandre (“to learn; to educate, teach”), from Latin apprēndere, a variant of apprehendere, adprehendere, the present active infinitives of apprehendō, adprehendō (“to lay hold upon, grab, grasp, seize, take; to apprehend, arrest; to grasp with the mind, comprehend, understand; (Medieval Latin) to learn; to inform; to teach”), from ad- (prefix meaning ‘to; towards’) + prehendō (“to lay hold of, grab, grasp, seize, take; (figuratively, rare) of the mind: to apprehend, comprehend, grasp, seize”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to find; to hold; to seize, take”)). Doublet of apprehend.

apprize

Origin

See appraise.

approach

Late Latin

From Old French aprochier, from Late Latin appropiare, built on Latin prope, "near."

approachable

Origin

Built from approach plus the suffix -able, "able to be."

approaching

Origin

By surface analysis, approach + -ing.

approbate

Origin

Borrowed from Latin approbatus. Doublet of approve.

approbation

Origin

From late Middle English approbacioun, from Old French approbacion (French approbation), from Latin approbatio, from approbare (“to assent to as good, approve, also show to be good, confirm”), from ad (“to”) + probare (“approve, commend”), from probus (“good”). By surface analysis, approbate + -ion.

appropriate

Latin

From Latin appropriare, "to make one's own," from proprius, "one's own, private" — the same root as property and proper.

appropriately

Origin

From appropriate plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

appropriation

Latin

From Latin appropriatio, from appropriare, "to make one's own."

appropriator

Origin

From appropriate + -or.

approval

Origin

From approve plus the noun-forming suffix -al.

approve

Latin

From Old French aprover, from Latin approbare, from ad- + probare, "to test, prove good" — the same root as probe and probable.

approximate

Latin

From Latin approximatus, from ad- + proximare, "to come near," from proximus, "nearest."

approximation

Origin

From approximate plus the noun-forming suffix -ion.

appurtenance

Origin

From Middle English appurtenaunce, from Anglo-Norman apurtenance and Old French apartenance, from apartenir, from Latin appertineō (“to belong, to appertain”). More at appertain. By surface analysis, appertain + -ance.

appurtenances

Old French

From Anglo-Norman and Old French apartenance, from Latin appertinere 'to belong to', from ad- 'to' plus pertinere 'to pertain'.

appy

Origin

Formed by clipping a longer word — "appetizer" or "appendix/appendicitis/appendectomy" — down to "appy" and adding the informal "-y" ending.

apricot

Late Latin

Traces back through French and Arabic to Late Latin praecoquum, "early-ripening (fruit)" — the same root as precocious.

April

Latin

From Latin Aprilis, possibly linked to the goddess Venus through an Etruscan form; the name may also relate to Latin aperire, "to open," fitting the season when buds open.

April Fools' Day

English

From April fool, a person tricked on that date; the custom is recorded in Britain from the seventeenth century, but its origin is genuinely unknown and the popular explanations linking it to calendar reform are unverified.

apron

Old French

Originally "a napron," from Old French naperon, related to nappe, "tablecloth" — over time, "a napron" was misheard as "an apron," the same process that gave us the words adder and umpire.

apropos

French

Borrowed directly from French à propos, literally "to the purpose."

apt

Latin

From Latin aptus, "suitable, fitting."

aptitude

Latin

From Latin aptitudo, from aptus, "fit, suitable" — a doublet of attitude, which comes from the same Latin root by a different path.

aptly

Origin

From apt plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

aqua

Latin

From Latin aqua, "water" — the colour sense developed because it resembles the blue-green of clear water.

aqualung

Origin

Aqualung was the original name for the first open-circuit SCUBA diving equipment by Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau in 1943. From aqua- + lung.

aquarium

Latin

From Latin aquarium, "watering place," from aqua, "water" — likely popularised in English by the naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, blending "aquatic" and "vivarium."

Aquarius

Latin

From Latin aquarius, "water carrier," from aqua, "water" — a translation of an older Mesopotamian image of a god pouring water.

aquatic

Latin

From Latin aquaticus, "relating to water," from aqua, "water."

aqueduct

Latin

From Latin aquaeductus, "conveyance of water," from aqua, "water," and ducere, "to lead."

aquilegia

Origin

From the genus name.

ar

Middle English

From Middle English *ar, arres pl, from earlier *er.

ara

Origin

Learned borrowing from taxonomic name Ara.

Arab

Arabic

From Arabic 'arab, the name Arabs use for themselves.

Arabella

Latin

Uncertain, used in Scotland since the sixteenth century; possibly from Latin orabilis (“yielding to prayer”) or a variant of Annabel.

Arabia

Latin

From Latin Arabia, from Ancient Greek Ἀραβία (Arabía).

Arabian

Origin

From "Arabia" plus the suffix "-an", meaning "belonging to".

Arabic

Latin

From Latin arabicus, from Greek Arabikos, ultimately from Arab plus an adjective-forming suffix.

arachnophobia

Greek

From Greek arachne 'spider' plus phobos 'fear'.

Arafat

Arabic

Transliteration of Arabic عَرَفَات (ʕarafāt). Cf. عَرَفَة (ʕarafa).