"C" Word Origins

From Italian camorra, thought to derive from a Spanish word meaning "dispute" or "quarrel."

An unadapted borrowing from French camouflage, ultimately from Italian camuffare, "to muffle the head" or disguise.

From French camoufleur.

Origin uncertain; possibly linked to French camper ("to strike a pose") for the theatrical sense, and to Latin campus ("field") for the outdoor-shelter sense.

From French campagne, ultimately from Latin campus ("field"), originally referring to military operations conducted in open country.

From campaign (verb) + -er (agent noun suffix) or from campaign (noun) + -er (occupational suffix).

From campane + -ed.

Borrowed from Latin campanella, a diminutive of campana ("bell"), which itself is said to trace back to Campania, the Italian region famous for its bronze bell foundries.

Borrowed from Italian campanile (“bell tower, belfry”), from campana (“bell”) + -ile (suffix forming nouns indicating locations that host animals or objects). Campana is derived from Late Latin and Medieval Latin campāna (“large bell used in late classical or medieval church towers or steeples; tower for such a bell, belfry, campanile”), and then either: * traditionally regarded to be from Latin Campāna (“region of Campania, Italy”) (because bells were supposedly introduced in Christian services in Nola, a diocese of Campania, by Saint Paulinus (c. 354 – 431), though the story has been discredited), from Campānus (“relating to the region of Campania, Italy, or its inhabitants, Campanian”), from campus (“field, plain”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives, which are sometimes used as nouns); or * from Ancient Greek καπάνη (kapánē, “felt helmet”) (apparently because of the similarity in shape). The plural form campanili is derived from Italian campanili.

From the Scottish surname Campbell, itself from Gaelic caimbeul, "crooked mouth". The duck breed was named after its developer, Adele Campbell.

From camp + the agent suffix -er, meaning "one who camps."

A straightforward compound of camp + fire.

From camp + ground.

Malapropism in the English Bible of the Hebrew כֹּפֶר / כּוֹפֶר (kōp̄er, “henna”) by confusion with camphor. The Hebrew is from Akkadian 𒇒𒌓𒀀 (kupru, “bitumen, pitch”) from Akkadian 𒅗𒉺𒊒 (kapāru, “to smear, to daub on”).

From Old French camphore, via Medieval Latin from Arabic kafur, ultimately traced back to a Malay word, kapur.

Likely a variant of Middle English champioun ("champion"); rose campion was once woven into garlands to crown victors in classical times.

From camp (“an affected or exaggerated style”) + -ish.

From campus + the informal -o ending, or directly from Spanish/Portuguese campo, "field".

From camp + site.

A compound of camp + town, translating the Korean term gijichon.

Borrowed from Latin campus, "field", first applied to a college grounds at Princeton University in the 1770s.

From camp (“an affected or exaggerated style”) + -y.

Variant of Cameron.

Borrowed from Latin Camulodūnum.

From a French surname derived from the adjective camus, "flat-nosed".

The verb goes back to Old English cunnan, "to know how"; it is a distant relative of "know". The container sense comes from a separate Old English word, candel-related only by coincidence.

From Greek Kana, possibly ultimately from a Hebrew word for "reed".

Via Latin and Greek from Hebrew Kena'an; the pronunciation shifted over centuries following the Great Vowel Shift in English.

From French Canada, borrowed from a Laurentian Iroquoian word kanata meaning "village" or "settlement" — originally referring to a single settlement, not the whole country.

From Canada + the adjective-forming suffix -ian.

From Old French canal, from Latin canalis, "channel", ultimately from a word for "reed" — a doublet of "channel".

Borrowed from French canard (“duck, hoax”). etymology note The primary English meaning of canard comes from the Medieval French expression “vendre un canard à moitié”, which literally means “to sell half a duck” or “to half-sell a duck”. This was perhaps the punch line to a joke. Eventually the punch line came to stand for the joke and then finally the word alone stood for the whole concept. The story may perhaps have gone like this: A duck seller is successful and content as the only duck seller on a street, selling his ducks for eight francs each. A new duck seller moves in across the street who steals all the business by offering his ducks for seven francs each. Then a price war ensues, back and forth, until the new duck seller is down to three francs for a duck. The original duck seller is beside himself with worry and frustration, but finally he puts up a big sign that says, “Two francs” and then in small print at the bottom “for half a duck.” In this way, to half-sell ducks may have come to mean tricking people with something that is literally true but misleading. It has this same metaphorical meaning in French. Now in English, it simply means anything that is deliberately mi

From Spanish canario, referring to the Canary Islands, which the Romans in turn named after their dogs (Latin canis).

From Spanish canasta, "basket"; the game originated in Uruguay.

Most likely from an Aboriginal Ngunawal word, kamberra, meaning "meeting place", though the exact origin is debated.

Borrowed directly from French cancan.

From Latin cancellare, "to cross out with lines", from cancelli, "a lattice" — the same root that gives us "cancel" as crossing something out with crisscross marks.

From Latin cancellatio, built from cancellare, "to cancel".

From Latin cancer, "crab", echoing the Greek karkinos, applied to tumours because their swollen veins were thought to resemble a crab's legs.

From Latin cancerosus, from cancer, "tumour", plus the adjective suffix -osus.

Via Latin from Greek Kandake, itself from a Meroitic royal title used by Nubian queens.

Borrowed from Latin candēla (“candle”). Doublet of candle and chandelle.

Unadapted borrowing from Latin candēlābrum (“candlestick”), from candēla. Doublet of chandelier. Displaced native Old English candeltrēow (literally “candle tree”).

A variant spelling of "Candy," itself a nickname for Candace.

A variant of Candace, popularly linked by folk etymology to Latin candida, "whiteness".

From Latin candidus, "white, bright", the same root that gives "candour" and "candle" — the idea of being "clear" as well as "shining."

From candidate + the noun-forming suffix -cy.

From Latin candidatus, "one dressed in white" — Roman office-seekers traditionally wore white togas.