"G" Word Origins

glove

Old English

From Old English glof, from a Germanic compound roughly meaning "covering for the palm of the hand."

glovemaker

Origin

From glove + maker.

glover

Middle English

From Middle English glovere, formed from "glove" plus the occupational ending "-er."

glow

Old English

From Old English glowan, "to glow," from an ancient Germanic root meaning to shine or be radiant — possibly related to "glass."

glower

Origin

From an alteration (possibly Scots) of glore, from Middle English glōren, glouren (“to gleam; to glare, glower”); or from glow (“to stare”) (obsolete), and ultimately from a Scandinavian (North Germanic) language. Cognate with Low German gloren (“to flicker; to glimmer”), Dutch gloren, Icelandic glóra. By surface analysis, glow + -er (fossilized frequentative suffix). See more at glare.

gloze

Origin

From Middle English glosen, from Old French gloser, from Medieval Latin glossa. More at gloss.

glub

Origin

An imitative word mimicking the sound of underwater bubbling, related to "glug."

glucose

Ancient Greek

Borrowed via French from Ancient Greek gleukos, meaning "sweet wine" or "must" — reflecting its sweet taste.

glue

Late Latin

From Old French glu, from Late Latin glus, tracing back to Latin gluten — the same root that gives us the word "gluten."

glug

Origin

An imitative word that mimics the sound of liquid being poured or swallowed.

glum

German

Probably from a Low German word related to "gloomy," describing a dark, sullen mood.

glut

Origin

Inherited from Middle English glotien /glotten, probably derived from Old French gloter /glotir /glotoiier (“to eat greedily”) [compare French engloutir (“to devour”), French glouton (“glutton”)], derived from Latin gluttiō, gluttīre (“to swallow”). Compare Russian глота́ть (glotátʹ, “to swallow”).

glutamic

Origin

Latin gluten (“glue”) + -amic

gluten

Latin

From Latin gluten, meaning "glue" — the same root that gives us the word "glue" itself.

glutes

Greek

A shortening of gluteus, from Greek gloutos, 'buttock'.

glutinous

Origin

From Latin glūtinōsus. By surface analysis, gluten + -ous.

glutton

Latin

From Old French gloton, from Latin gluttonis ("glutton"). The wolverine's name "glutton" is actually a mistranslation of an Old Norse phrase meaning "mountain cat," which gave rise to a myth about the animal's greed.

gluttonous

Origin

From Middle English glotenose, glotenouse, glotonos, glotonous, glotounius, glotynous, from Middle French glotonos; equivalent to glutton + -ous.

gluttony

Old French

From Old French glutonie, built from "glutton" plus a noun-forming ending.

Glynn

Irish

From Irish gleann ("glen, valley").

glyph

Greek

From Greek gluphē 'carving', from gluphein 'to carve', by way of French glyphe.

glyptodon

Origin

From the New Latin genus name Glyptodon (from Ancient Greek Ancient Greek γλυπτός (gluptós, “sculptured”) + -odon (“tooth”), 'grooved or carved tooth').

gnarl

Origin

Back-formation from gnarled.

gnarled

Origin

First attested Shakespeare 1603: : Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt Splits the vn-wedgable [unwedgable] and gnarled Oke [oak]. : Measure for Measure, Act II, scene ii, line 116 Variant of knurled, from knurl. By surface analysis, gnarl + -ed, though gnarl is a later back-formation. Popular use by 19th century.

gnarly

Origin · 1970

From "gnarl" (a knot in wood) plus "-y." The slang meanings of "excellent" or "extreme" were popularized by American surf culture in the 1970s.

gnash

Origin

From Middle English gnasten. Origin unknown; the word is probably either Germanic or ultimately onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse gnastan, Danish gnaske ("munch", "crunch"), German knirschen, German Low German gnirschen, gnörschen (“gnash”), Swedish gnissla (“squeak; gnash”), all of onomatopoeic origin.

gnat

Old English

From Old English gnætt, from a Germanic root ultimately connected to words meaning "to gnaw" or "scratch."

gnaw

Old English

From Old English gnagan, from a Germanic root meaning "to gnaw," related to words in Dutch, German, and Scandinavian languages with similar meanings.

gnawing

Middle English

From Middle English gnawynge, simply gnaw plus the -ing ending.

gnocchi

Italian

From Italian gnocchi, the plural of gnocco ("lump"), related to a word for a knot or knuckle in wood — the dumplings are named for their small, knobbly shape.

gnome

New Latin

From French gnome, coined in New Latin by the Renaissance physician Paracelsus as another word for a pygmy-like earth spirit.

gnotobiotic

Origin

From Ancient Greek γνωτός (gnōtós, “known”) + English -biotic.

go

Old English

From Old English gan ("to go"), an ancient Germanic verb; its past tense "went" was borrowed from a completely different verb, "wend," which is why go/went look so different.

Goa

Origin · 1980

Named after Goa, the Indian state where this style of trance music took shape among travellers and DJs in the late 1980s.

goad

Old English

From Old English gad ("goad, spear point"), an ancient Germanic word related to terms for spears and piercing.

goal

Old English

From Middle English gol ("boundary, limit"), likely from an Old English word for a barrier or gap — the sports and ambition senses both grew from the idea of a marked end-point to reach.

goalie

Origin

A shortened, informal form of "goalkeeper."

goalkeeper

Origin

A straightforward compound of goal and keeper.

goals

Origin

Grew out of the social-media hashtag #goals, used to caption things worth aspiring to.

goaltender

Origin

From goal + tender.

goam

Origin

Variant of gorm/gaum, which see for more.

goanna

Origin

An Australian respelling of "guana," itself shortened from "iguana."

goat

Old English

From Old English gat, an ancient Germanic word for the animal; the "lecherous man" sense comes from the old expression "horny as a goat."

goatback

Origin

From goat + back, modelled on horseback.

goatee

Origin

From goat plus the diminutive ending -ee, since the beard resembles the tuft of hair on a goat's chin.

goatskin

Origin

From Middle English geet skin; equivalent to goat + skin.

gob

Old French

From Middle English gobbe, from Old French gobe ("lump, mouthful"), ultimately from a Gaulish word for a snout or muzzle.

gobble

Middle English

From Middle English gobben ("to swallow greedily"), possibly related to "gulp," with the frequentative ending -le added to suggest repeated action.