English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

"D" Word Origins

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

“D” Word Origins

Scottish Gaelic · 1602

Origin uncertain; first recorded in English around 1602, popularly linked to Scots and Scottish Gaelic though no clear source word has been confirmed.

From Old Norse drit, meaning "excrement" — the word originally referred to dung before shifting to its modern sense of "soil" or "filth."

Formed from "dirt" plus "bag."

From dirt + ball.

From dirt + brain.

From dirt + -en (verbal suffix).

From dirt + -some.

From Middle English dirti, an alteration of dritti, built from dirt plus the adjective ending -y.

Abbreviation of disrespect.

From disable plus the noun-forming suffix -ity, first recorded around 1570.

From dis- ("not, opposite of") plus able, tracing back through Old French to Latin habilis, "manageable."

From Middle English disacorden, from Anglo-Norman desacorder.

From Middle English disavauntage, borrowed from Old French desavantage.

From Old French desaventure. Equivalent to dis- + adventure.

From disaffect + -ion.

From dis- + affirm.

From Middle English disagre, via Anglo-Norman disagreer from Old French desagreer, "to be unpleasant" — built from dis- + agree.

From Middle English disagreable, from Old French desagraable, built on dis- + agreeable.

From dis- + agreement, or from disagree + -ment.

From Middle English disallowen, desallowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman desalouer, Old French desalöer. By surface analysis, dis- + allow.

From dis- + apparent.

From Middle English disapeeren, built from dis- + appear.

From disappear + -ance.

From Middle French desapointer, which originally meant to remove someone from an appointed office, later broadening to "frustrate someone's expectations."

From disappoint + -ment.

From dis- + approval.

From dis- + approve.

From Middle English desarmen, from Anglo-Norman desarmer.

From disarm + -ment, modeled on armament.

From disarm + -er.

From Middle English disareyen, via Middle French desarroyer, from des- ("dis-") + areer ("to array").

From dis- + assemble.

From disassemble + -er.

From Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro — literally "ill-starred," from dis- ("bad") + astro ("star"), from Latin astrum.

From disaster + -ous, echoing French desastreux and ultimately Italian disastroso.

From dis- + avail.

From dis- + avow, or from Old French desavouer.

Middle French · 1590

Attested since the 1590s, from Middle French desbander, from des- + bande ("band").

From dis- + belief.

Coined circa 1640, from dis- + believe. Compare misbelieve.

From disbelieve + -er or dis- + believer.

From Old French desbourser (Modern French débourser). By surface analysis, dis- + burse (“purse”).

From Old French desbourser 'to pay out', formed from des- 'out of' and bourse 'purse'.

From French disque, from Latin discus, from Ancient Greek diskos ("disk, quoit, platter").

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin discalceātus (“barefoot”) + -ed, rendering French déchaussé. By surface analysis, dis- + calced.

From dis- + card.

From Middle English discernen, from Old French discerner, from Latin discernere ("to separate, distinguish"), from dis- ("apart") + cernere ("to distinguish").

From French discernable, later respelled with -i- to match Latin discernibilis.