"G" Word Origins

ghoulish

Origin

From ghoul plus the adjective suffix -ish.

gi

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese gi ("clothing"), used in compounds like judogi and karategi.

Gia

Italian

* (name from Italian): Borrowed from Italian Gia * (name from Greek): Clipping of Georgia.

Giancarlo

Italian

From Italian Giancarlo.

Gianluca

Italian

From Italian Gianluca (literally “John-Luke”).

Gianna

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Gianna and Greek Γιάννα (Giánna). Doublet of Jane.

giant

Ancient Greek

From Old French geant, ultimately from Latin gigas and Ancient Greek gigas ("giant"), the same root that gives us "giga-" for a billion.

giaour

Origin

Borrowed from French giaour, from Ottoman Turkish كاور (gâvur), from Classical Persian گَاوُر (gāwur), a variant of گَبْر (gabr, “infidel”); see there for more. Doublet of Gheber and Gueber.

gib

Origin

Unknown (14th century). Perhaps abbreviated from Gilbert, the name of the cat in the medieval fables of Reynard the Fox, Romaunt of the Rose, and so on.

Gibb

Origin

Derived from a Middle English diminutive of the name Gilbert

gibber

Origin

Uncertain; usually regarded as a back-formation from gibberish (see gibberish for more).

gibberish

Spanish · 1500

First recorded in the mid-1500s; likely imitative of chattering sounds, possibly related to "jabber," with the -ish ending as used in language names like "English" or "Spanish."

gibbon

French

Borrowed via French, with the word ultimately tracing back to a Southeast Asian language.

gibbous

Origin

From Middle English gibbous, from Latin gibbus (“humped, hunched”), probably cognate with cubō (“bend oneself, lie down”), Italian gobba (“humpback”), Ancient Greek κῡφός (kūphós, “humpback, bent”), κύβος (kúbos, “cube, vertebra”), Spanish giboso (“humped”). Also ultimately compare dialectal Norwegian keiv (“slanted, wrong”), German schief (“crooked, slanting”) and Dutch scheef (“crooked, slanting”).

Gibby

Origin

From Gibson + -y.

gibibyte

Origin

From gibi- + byte.

gibingly

Origin

From gibing + -ly.

giblet

Origin

See giblets.

giblets

Old French

From Old French gibelet, a stew made from game birds.

Gibraltar

Arabic

Named after the small glass tumbler the drink is served in, which some baristas nicknamed after the Rock of Gibraltar; the territory itself takes its name from Arabic "Jabal Tariq", meaning "Mount Tariq".

Gibson

Origin

From Gibb + -son.

giddy

Old English

From Old English gidig, meaning "possessed by a spirit" or "insane" — the sense softened over time from madness to dizziness to lighthearted excitement.

giddyup

Origin

A contraction of "get up" or "get thee up."

Gideon

Hebrew

From the Hebrew name Gidon, meaning roughly "one who cuts down" or "mighty warrior" — also the name of a judge and military leader in the Old Testament.

GIF

English

An initialism of Graphics Interchange Format.

Gifford

Old French

From an Old French/Germanic personal name meaning "gift-brave" or "gift-strong".

gift

Old English

From Old English gift ("giving, dowry") and Old Norse gipt, both from a Germanic root shared with "give." Interestingly, the same root produced the German word Gift, which now means "poison."

giftful

Origin

From gift + -ful.

gig

Old French

Origin uncertain, though possibly related to Old French gigue, "a fiddle."

gigantesque

Origin

From French, from Italian gigantesco, ultimately from Ancient Greek γίγᾱς (gígās, “giant”). Compare giga-, giant.

gigantic

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek gigantikos, related to gigas ("giant").

giggle

Origin · 1500

From the early 1500s, likely imitative of the sound itself.

Gigi

French

Borrowed from French Gigi. Sometimes a pet form of English names such as Virginia or Genesis. Occasionally from initials G.G. (e.g. George General 'Gigi' Gryce).

gigolo

French

From French gigolo, "a young man kept by an older woman," itself a back-formation from gigolette, a term for a dancing girl for hire.

gigue

Origin

From French gigue. Doublet of jig.

gijinka

Origin

Borrowed from Japanese 擬人化 (“personification”).

gila

Origin

Borrowed from Malay gila.

Gilbert

Origin · 1500

Named after William Gilbert, the English scientist who pioneered the study of magnetism in the late 1500s.

Gilchrist

Scottish Gaelic

From Scottish Gaelic Gille Chriosd, meaning "servant of Christ."

gilcrease

Origin

Probably a variant of Gilchrist.

gild

Origin

From Middle English gilden, gulden, from Old English gyldan (“to gild, to cover with a thin layer of gold”), from Proto-West Germanic *gulþijan, from Proto-Germanic *gulþijaną, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą (“gold”).

gilda

Origin · 1946

Named after the 1946 film "Gilda"; the snack was supposedly considered as spicy and striking as the film's title character.

gilded

Origin

From the verb "gild" (to cover with gold) plus -ed.

gilder

Origin

From Middle English gilder (“gilder; goldsmith”) [and other forms], from gilden (“to cover with gilding, gild; to decorate with gold”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”)) + -er, -ere (suffix forming agent nouns, especially the names of persons engaged in professions or trades); analysable as gild + -er.

Giles

Old French

Medieval English form of Old French saints' name Giles, modern Gilles, an altered form of Latin Aegīdius, from Ancient Greek Αἰγίδιος (Aigídios), derivative of αἰγίδιον (aigídion, “kid, young goat”).

gilet

Origin

Borrowed from French gilet (“vest, waistcoat”), from regional Italian gileccu (Calabria), gilecco (Genoa), gelecco (Naples), ggileccu (Sicily), etc. (standard Italian gilè is borrowed from French), from Turkish yelek (“jelick; vest, waistcoat”) (ultimately from Proto-Turkic *yẹl (“wind”, noun)) with the final syllable modified to match other types of clothing such as corselet and mantelet. The Oxford English Dictionary does not regard the French word as having derived from Arabic جَلِيقَة (jalīqa), which it views as a recent borrowing from Italian into Algerian Arabic. Doublet of jelick.

Gilfoyle

Origin

Variant of Guilfoyle.

Gilgamesh

Origin

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒄑𒂆𒈦 (Gilgāmeš), borrowed from Sumerian 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌 (ᵈgilgameš₂ /⁠Gilgameš⁠/). First attested in 1894.