"C" Word Origins

capoeira

Portuguese

From Brazilian Portuguese capoeira; its ultimate origin is uncertain.

Capone

Italian

From Italian Capone.

capote

French

Borrowed from French capote, related to "cape."

capped

Origin

From "cap" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ed."

Cappella

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Cappella.

Cappie

Origin

From "cap" plus the informal diminutive suffix -ie, in the same pattern as "movie" or "hankie."

cappo

Origin

Modification of French capote.

cappuccino

Italian

From Italian cappuccino, originally referring to the brown-hooded habit of Capuchin friars, whose color resembled the drink.

cappy

Origin

From "cap" plus "-y."

Capri

Origin

Named after Capri, an island in the Bay of Naples, Italy.

caprice

French

From French caprice, from Italian capriccio, originally meaning "a sudden fright" — literally a "hedgehog head" (hair standing on end), from caput ("head") and riccio ("hedgehog").

capricious

Italian

From Italian capriccioso, from capriccio ("caprice, sudden fright").

Capricorn

Latin

From Latin Capricornus, literally "goat-horned," from caper ("goat") and cornu ("horn").

capricornus

Origin

From Middle English, borrowed from Latin Capricornus, from capra (“goat”) and cornū (“horn”), calque of Ancient Greek Αἰγοκέρως (Aigokérōs, “horned goat; name of constellation”), calque of Akkadian 𒀯𒋦𒈧𒄩 (suḫurmāšu), from Sumerian 𒀯𒋦𒈧𒄩 (ᴹᵁᴸSUḪUR.MAŠ, “the Goat-Fish; name of constellation”).

caprid

Origin

By surface analysis, an appellativization from Caprid(ae) minus -ae (a pattern that recurs with many -idae names); also by surface analysis, capr- + -id.

caprine

Origin

Borrowed from Latin caprīnus. The taxonomic sense is a semantic loan from translingual Caprinae.

capsicum

Origin

Borrowed from New Latin capsicum, from Ancient Greek καψικός (kapsikós, “like a box”), from Latin capsa (“box”).

capsize

Spanish · 1700

First recorded in English in the late 1700s; its origin is uncertain, though it may be related to a Spanish word for sinking bow-first.

capstone

Origin

From Middle English capston; equivalent to cap + stone.

capsule

Latin

From Latin capsula ("little box"), a diminutive of capsa ("box, case").

captain

Late Latin

From Old French capitaine, from Late Latin capitaneus, "chief," ultimately from Latin caput, "head" — the same root as "capital" and "chief."

CAPTCHA

English

An acronym of completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart.

captee

Origin

From capture + -ee.

caption

Latin

From Latin captio, "a taking, a seizing," from capio, "to take" — the sense shifted over time from a legal "taking" to the modern "heading" or "label."

captivate

Origin

Learned borrowing from Late Latin captīvātus, the perfect passive participle of captīvō (“to capture”), from Latin captīvus (“captive, prisoner”) (ultimately from capiō (“to capture, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). Equivalent to captive + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

captivating

Latin

Formed from captivate (from Latin captivus, "captured, taken prisoner") plus the ending -ing.

captive

Latin

From Latin captivus, "taken prisoner," from capio, "to seize" — a distant cousin of "capture" and "captor."

captivity

Latin

From Latin captivitas, built on captivus, "prisoner" — from the same root as "captive" and "capture."

captor

Late Latin

From Late Latin captor, "one who seizes," from Latin capio, "to take."

capture

Latin

From Latin captura, "a taking," from capio, "to seize" — the same root family as "captive" and "captor."

capturer

Origin

From capture + -er.

Capulet

Italian

From the surname of Juliet's family in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, itself adapted from the Italian Capuleti.

caput

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin caput (“the head”). Doublet of cape, capo, chef, and chief, and distantly of head and Howth.

car

Latin

From Old North French carre, ultimately from Latin carrus, a Celtic-derived word for a wheeled cart. "Car" originally meant any wheeled vehicle long before it meant an automobile.

Cara

Italian · 1900

A 20th-century English coinage, likely inspired by Italian cara ("dear") or Irish cara ("friend").

Caracas

Spanish

Named after the Caraca people who lived in the region before Spanish colonization.

carafe

Origin

First attested 1786, from French carafe, from Italian caraffa, probably from Arabic غُرْفَة (ḡurfa, “cup or dipper”), from غَرَفَ (ḡarafa, “to ladle”). Doublet of carboy.

caramba

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish caramba, a polite substitute for a much ruder Spanish swear word.

caramel

Late Latin

From French caramel, tracing back through Spanish and Portuguese to Late Latin calamellus, "little reed" — an odd origin for a sugary treat.

carat

Arabic

From Arabic qirat, "small unit of weight," ultimately from Greek keration, "little horn" or "carob seed" — carob seeds were once used as a natural, fairly consistent weight for measuring gems.

Caravaggio

Origin

Named after Caravaggio, the town in Italy his family came from.

caravan

French

From Persian karvan via French, originally describing groups of merchants or pilgrims travelling together by camel or horse for safety.

carbine

French · 1600

From French carabine, first used in English around 1600.

carbon

Latin

Coined by the chemist Antoine Lavoisier from Latin carbo, "charcoal" or "coal."

carbonade

Origin

Borrowed from French carbonnade. Doublet of carbonado.

carbonado

Origin

The noun is derived from Spanish carbonada (“carbonized”) (from carbonar (“to carbonize”)) + -ado (suffix forming past participles of regular verbs ending in -ar). Carbonada appears to have been modelled after Italian carbonata (“coal pile; stew of beef in red wine”), from carbone (“coal; charcoal”) (from Latin carbō (“coal; charcoal”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to burn”)) + -ata. The verb is derived from the noun.

carbonara

Italian

From Italian alla carbonara, "in the style of the charcoal burners," from carbone, "coal."

carbonari

Origin

From Italian carbonari, plural of carbonaro.