"E" Word Origins

earthworm

Middle English

From Middle English erthe-worm, joining earth and worm.

earthy

Origin

From earth plus -y.

earwaxy

Origin

From earwax + -y.

earwig

Old English

From Old English ēarwicga, literally "ear insect" — from an old folk belief that the insect crawled into people's ears.

ease

Old French

From Old French aise ("elbow room, opportunity"), a word whose deeper origins are murky and disputed.

easel

Dutch

From Dutch ezel, meaning "donkey" — the stand was jokingly compared to a beast of burden holding up a load, much like "sawhorse" or "clotheshorse."

easement

Origin

From Anglo-Norman aisement, easement, eisement, esament, esement, and Middle French aisement (“comfort, convenience, ease, facility, opportunity; a benefit, relief; a right to use land, a thing, etc.; a privy”), from aisier (“to put at ease; to facilitate”) + -ment (“-ment, suffix forming nouns, usually the action or state resulting from verbs”).

easily

Origin

From easy plus the adverb ending -ly.

east

Old English

From Old English ēast, an ancient word shared across the Germanic languages, ultimately going back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "dawn."

eastbound

Origin

From east plus -bound ("heading toward").

Easter

Old English

From Old English ēastre, likely tied to Ēastre, a proposed Anglo-Saxon goddess associated with spring and dawn — despite a popular myth, it is not related to the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar.

eastern

Old English

From Old English ēasterne, from east plus a suffix meaning "belonging to."

eastertide

Origin

From Easter + -tide (“period surrounding a festival”).

easting

Origin

From east + -ing.

eastlake

Origin

From east + lake.

Easton

Old English

From Old English ēast ("east") + tūn ("settlement"); a doublet of Aston.

eastside

Origin

From east plus side.

eastward

Old English

From Old English ēastweard, from east plus -ward ("in the direction of").

Eastwood

Origin

From the surname Eastwood, most famously associated with actor Clint Eastwood, whose tough on-screen persona inspired this informal noun sense.

easy

Old French

From Old French aisié ("at ease, at leisure"), from aise — the same root that gives us "ease."

easygoing

Origin

From easy plus going.

eat

Old English

From Old English etan, an ancient verb going back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to eat," shared across nearly all Germanic languages.

eatable

Origin

From eat + -able (“able, capable”). Doublet of edible.

eatage

Origin

From a corruption (as if < eat + -age) of edige, eddish. More at eddish.

eaten

Old English

From Old English eten, the past participle of etan ("to eat").

eater

Old English

From Old English etere, from eat plus the agent suffix -er.

eatery

Origin

From eat plus the noun suffix -ery, on the same pattern as "bakery."

eating

Old English

From Old English eting, from eat.

Eaton

Old English

From Old English ea ("river") + tun ("homestead"); a doublet of Eton.

eatworthy

Origin

From eat + -worthy.

eau

Latin

From French eau ("water"), from Latin aqua — making it a doublet of the English word "aqua."

eaved

Origin

From eave + -ed.

eaves

Old English

From Old English efes ("edge of a roof"), ultimately traced back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "above" or "over."

eavesdrip

Origin

From eaves + drip.

eavesdrop

Origin

From "eaves" (the overhanging edge of a roof) plus "drop" — originally the ground where rain dripped off the roof; the "secret listening" sense grew from picturing someone lurking in that spot to overhear what was said inside.

eavesdropper

Origin

From eavesdrop + -er (“person or thing which does”).

eavesread

Origin

Blend of eavesdrop + read.

eavestrough

Origin

1813 eaves-trough, 1817 eave trough, 1870 eavestrough, from eaves + trough.

eBay

Origin · 1990

Originally short for "Echo Bay," the name of the consulting firm behind the site's early development; the "e-" also echoes the "electronic" prefix common to 1990s internet brands.

ebb

Old English

From Old English ebba, referring to the outgoing tide — ultimately from a Germanic root meaning "off" or "away," the same idea behind the modern word "of."

ebbetts

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of the given name Isabel.

Eben

Hebrew

Shortened from Ebenezer, equivalent to Hebrew אֶבֶן (éven, "stone").

Ebenezer

Hebrew

From Hebrew אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר (éven ha`ézer), "stone of help," referring to a memorial stone set up by the prophet Samuel in the Bible.

Ebert

German

Chiefly Upper and Middle German variant of German Eberhard.

ebionite

Origin

From Ancient Greek Ἐβιωναῖοι (Ebiōnaîoi), from Hebrew אביונים (Ebyonim, “the Poor Ones”), plural of Hebrew אֶבְיוֹן (ʾeḇyōn, “needy, poor”), itself likely a borrowing from Coptic ⲉⲃⲓⲏⲛ (ebiēn, “poor”).

Ebola

Origin · 1976

Named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, near where the virus was first identified in 1976; the river's name comes from a local phrase meaning "white water."

ebon

Origin

From Old French eban (modern ébène), from Latin ebenus, from Ancient Greek ἔβενος (ébenos, “ebony tree”).

ebonics

Origin

Blend of ebony + phonics. Coined by scholars at the Cognitive and Language Development of the Black Child conference in 1973 led by Robert L. Williams and published in his book Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks (1975). Considered outdated by some.