"C" Word Origins

calculation

Latin

From Latin calculatio, built on calculare, "to reckon" — the noun form of "calculate."

calculator

Middle English

In the sense of a person, from Middle English calkelatour (“a mathematician, an astrologer”), borrowed from Latin calculātor, equivalent to calculate + -or. The other meanings arose in Modern English.

calculus

Latin

From Latin calculus, "small pebble," the same word used for counting stones on an abacus — mathematicians later borrowed it for this branch of math.

Calcutta

Origin

Named after Calcutta (now Kolkata), India's former capital, where this style of auction-pool betting is said to have become popular.

Calder

Origin

From Cumbric caled ("hard") + duvr ("water").

caldera

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish caldera (“cauldron”), from Late Latin caldāria (“warm bath”), from Latin caldārium. Doublet of chowder.

Caldwell

Old English

From Old English cald ("cold") + wielle ("well, spring").

calean

Origin

From Persian قلیان.

Caleb

Hebrew

From Hebrew כָּלֵב (Kālēḇ), possibly related to keleḇ ("dog"), suggesting devotion.

Caledonia

Latin

Borrowed from Latin Calēdonia.

calendar

Latin

From Old French calendier, from Latin calendarium ("account book"), from calendae, the first day of the Roman month when debts were due.

calf

Old English

From Old English cealf, from a Proto-Germanic root shared with German Kalb and Dutch kalf.

calfling

Origin

From calf + -ling.

Calgary

Scottish Gaelic

From Scottish Gaelic cala ("harbor") + gearraidh ("pasture").

Cali

Origin

A clipping of California.

caliber

French

From French calibre, from Italian calibro, of uncertain ultimate origin, possibly linked to Arabic qālib ("mold").

calibrate

Origin

From "caliber" plus the verb-forming suffix "-ate."

calibration

Origin

From "calibrate" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ion."

calico

Origin

Named after Calicut (Kozhikode), the Indian port city from which the cloth was originally exported to Europe.

Caliente

Spanish

From Spanish caliente ("hot").

California

Spanish · 1500

Probably from a Utopian island of the Amazons named in a 16th-century Spanish novel.

Californian

Origin

Formed from the state name California plus the adjective-forming suffix -an, the same pattern as "American" or "Canadian."

Caligula

Latin

From Latin caliga ("leather boot") + -ula, a childhood nickname meaning "little boot."

caliph

Medieval Latin

From Arabic khalīfa ("successor"), via Old French caliphe and Medieval Latin calipha.

caliphate

Origin

From "caliph" plus the suffix "-ate," denoting a state or office.

Calista

Ancient Greek

From Latin Callistus, from Ancient Greek Κάλλιστος (Kállistos, "most beautiful").

calisthenics

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek kallos ("beauty") and sthenos ("strength"), combined with the English suffix "-ics."

call

Old English

From Old English ceallian and Old Norse kalla, both meaning "to call out or shout," from a shared Germanic root.

Callaghan

Origin

A variant of Callahan.

Callahan

Irish

From Irish Ó Ceallacháin; a doublet of Kelly and Kellogg.

callback

Origin

Formed from the phrasal verb "call back."

Callen

Origin

Variant of Callan.

caller

Origin

From "call" plus the agent suffix "-er."

callet

Origin

Perhaps from French caillette (“a frivolous gossip”), or Irish caile (“girl”).

Callie

Origin

From a 19th-century diminutive of Caroline.

calligraphy

Greek

From Greek kalligraphia, literally "beautiful writing," from kallos ("beauty") and graphein ("to write").

calling

Origin

From "call" plus the suffix "-ing."

calliope

Greek

Named after Calliope, the Greek muse of epic poetry, from kalos ("beautiful") and ops ("voice").

callipygian

Origin

From Ancient Greek καλλίπυγος (kallípugos) + -ian, from κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + πυγή (pugḗ, “buttocks”).

Callisto

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Καλλιστώ (Kallistṓ).

callosity

Origin

From Middle English callosite, collositee, calosite, from Anglo-Norman calosité (compare Old French chalosité), from Latin callōsitās, equivalent to callous + -ity.

callous

Latin

From Latin callosus ("thick-skinned"), from callum ("hardened skin").

callow

Origin

From Middle English calwe (“(adjective) bald; (noun) bald person”), from Old English calu, caluw (“without hair, bald, callow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kalu, from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“bald; bare, naked”), and then either: * from Proto-Indo-European *gol(H)-wo- (“bald; bare, naked”), from *gelH- (“head; naked”); or * from Latin calvus (“bald”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥H- (“bald; naked”). If not borrowed from Latin, Grimm’s law indicates that the Latin word is likely a false cognate, along with Persian کل (kal) and Sanskrit कुल्व (kulvá). cognates * Dutch kaal (“bald”) * German kahl (“bald”) * German Low German kahl (“bald”) * Russian го́лый (gólyj, “bare, naked, nude”) * Swedish kal, kalka (“bald”) * West Frisian keal (“bald”)

Calloway

Origin

Variant of Callaway.

Callum

Origin

Shortened from McCallum; also a variant of Calum.

callus

Origin

Borrowed from Latin callum (“hard skin”). Displaced Old English wearr.

Cally

Origin

Variant of Callie.

calm

Middle French

From Middle French calme, probably ultimately from Greek kauma ("the heat of the midday sun"), a time when work — and the wind — traditionally stopped.