"F" Word Origins

fiercely

Origin

From fierce plus -ly.

fierceness

Origin

From Middle English fersnesse; equivalent to fierce + -ness.

Fierro

Origin

* As a Spanish-Asturian-Leonese surname, from fierro (“iron”). Compare DelFierro. * As an Italian surname, variant of Ferro.

fiery

Middle English

From Middle English fyry, from fyr ("fire") plus -y.

fiesta

Latin

Borrowed from Spanish fiesta, from Latin festum ("feast") — a doublet of the English words "feast" and "fete."

FIFA

French

Acronym of the French "Fédération Internationale de Football Association."

fife

German

Borrowed from German Pfeife, "pipe" or "whistle" — a distant relative of the English word "pipe."

fifteen

Old English

From Old English fiftiene, built from "five" plus "-teen" (meaning "ten").

fifteenth

Old English

From Old English fiftEoetha, from fifteen plus -th.

fifth

Old English

From Old English fifta, built from "five" plus the ordinal ending "-th."

fifty

Old English

From Old English fiftig, meaning literally "five tens."

fig

Latin

From Old French figue, ultimately from Latin ficus, "fig tree" — a doublet of the word "fico."

Figaro

Origin

From the character Figaro, the clever barber in Beaumarchais’s plays and Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville.

fight

Old English

From Old English feohtan, "to fight, strive," related to an ancient root meaning "to comb or tear," describing violent struggle.

fighter

Origin

From fight plus the agent suffix -er.

fighting

Old English

From the present participle of Old English feohtan, "to fight."

figment

Late Latin

From Late Latin figmentum, "something formed or invented," from the same root as "fiction" and "feign."

Figueroa

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Figueroa, itself from Galician Figueroa.

figurative

Latin

From Middle French figuratif, ultimately tied to the Latin root for "figure" or "shape."

figurative language

Latin

From Latin figura, meaning shape or form, via Old French figuratif.

figuratively

Origin

From figurative plus -ly.

figure

Latin

From Old French figure, from Latin figura, "shape, form," ultimately from a root meaning "to mold or shape" — the same root behind "dough."

figured

Origin

From figure plus -ed.

figurehead

Origin

Literally "figure" plus "head," from the carved figures placed at the head (bow) of sailing ships.

figurine

French

Borrowed from French figurine, from figure plus a diminutive ending.

fil

Swedish

From Swedish fil, a shortened form of filmjölk (soured milk); related to the Finnish word viili for the same drink.

filament

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin filamentum, built on Latin filum meaning "thread."

filbert

Origin

Earlier filbert-nut, Philibert-nut, from Middle English filbert-note, from Anglo-Norman noix de filbert, so named because they are ripe near Saint Philibert’s Day.

filch

Origin

From Middle English filchen (“to pilfer, steal”). The further origin of the word is uncertain, but it is likely from or related to Old English fylċian (“to marshal troops”) and Old English ġefylċe (“band of men, army, host”), which would make it also related to folk.

filcher

Origin

From filch + -er.

filching

Origin

From filch + -ing.

file

Latin

From Old French fil, meaning "thread," ultimately from Latin filum. The tool sense (metal rasp) comes from a separate, unrelated Old English word, fil.

filial

Latin

From Latin filialis, built on filius ("son") and filia ("daughter"), plus the adjective ending -alis.

filiation

Origin

First attested in c. 1520. From French filiation

filibuster

French

From Spanish filibustero ("pirate"), itself from French flibustier, ultimately traced back to Dutch vrijbuiter — "freebooter" — the same root that gives English the word freebooter.

filibusterer

Origin

From filibuster + -er.

filipina

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish filipina f (feminine form of filipino).

Filipino

Spanish

From Spanish filipino, formed from the name Felipe, referring to Las Islas Filipinas ("the Philippine Islands") — named after King Philip II of Spain.

fill

Old English

From Old English fyllan ("to fill, satisfy, complete"), rooted in the Germanic word for "full."

fillet

Latin

From Old French filet, a diminutive of fil ("thread"), from Latin filum.

fillip

English

Late Middle English, probably imitative of the sound of a finger being flicked from the thumb.

Fillmore

Old English

From Old English full (“filled, fertile”) + mere (“lake”).

filly

Old Norse

From Old Norse fylja, related to the English word foal.

film

Old English · 1800

From Old English filmen, meaning "thin skin" or "membrane" — the sense of a "coating" came first, and by the late 1800s it extended to the chemical coating on photographic plates, then to movies themselves.

filmdom

Origin

From film + -dom.

filmic

Origin

From film + -ic. Doublet of filmy.

filmmaker

Origin

A straightforward compound of film and maker.

filmmaking

Origin

Formed from film plus making.