"G" Word Origins

garuda

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit garuḍa.

Gary

Origin

Ellipsis of Gary Glitter.

gas

Greek · 1600

Coined in the 1600s by the chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, adapted from the Greek word "chaos."

gas fee

English

From gas in the sense of fuel, by analogy with the fuel a vehicle consumes: the amount of computing work a transaction uses is measured in units called gas.

gasbag

Origin

From gas + bag.

Gascoigne

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English Gascoyne, from Anglo-Norman Gascoigne, from Late Latin Wascōnia, from Wascōnēs, modification of Classical Latin Vasconēs (“Basques, Gascons”), from Ancient Greek Οὐάσκωνες (Ouáskōnes). Compare Gascon and Gascony.

gasconade

Origin

From French gasconnade, from Gascon (“native of Gascony”) + -ade, equivalent to Gascon (“native of Gascony”) + -ade, literally "to talk like a Gascon". See French gasconnade.

gaseous

Origin

From "gas" plus the adjective ending "-eous."

gash

Greek

An altered form of the older word "garsh," ultimately traced back to a Greek word meaning "to engrave."

gasiform

Origin

From gas + -iform.

gasket

French

Possibly from French garcette, an old term for a small cord or strap used on ships.

gaslighting

English

From the 1938 stage play "Gas Light" by Patrick Hamilton, and its film adaptations, in which a husband dims the gas lamps and insists his wife is imagining it. The verb "to gaslight" followed, and the noun came into wide general use in the 2010s.

gasoline

Origin

Formed from "gas" plus two chemistry suffixes ("-ol" and "-ine"); some accounts trace the name partly to "Cazeline," an early brand of lighting oil named after its seller John Cassell.

gasp

Middle English

From Middle English gaspen, likely related to an Old Norse word meaning "to yawn."

gasper

Origin

From gasp + -er.

gassy

Origin

From "gas" plus the adjective ending "-y."

Gaston

French

Named after French climber Gaston Rébuffat, credited with popularizing the technique.

gastric

New Latin

From New Latin gastricus, based on the Greek word for stomach, gastḗr.

gastronome

Origin

Borrowed from French gastronome.

gastronomic

Origin

From French gastronomique.

gastronomy

Origin

From French gastronomie, from Ancient Greek γαστρονομία (gastronomía), from γαστήρ (gastḗr, “stomach”) + νόμος (nómos, “knowledge, law”); by surface analysis, gastro- (“cooking”) + -nomy (“a system of rules or laws about a particular field”).

gastropodous

Origin

From gastropod + -ous.

gat

Origin

A shortening of "Gatling gun", named after its inventor Richard Gatling, later applied loosely to any pistol.

gate

Old English

From Old English geat ("opening, gap"), related to Old Norse and Dutch words for "hole."

gatecrash

Origin

From gate + crash.

gatecrasher

Origin

From gate + crasher.

gatekeeper

Origin

From "gate" plus "keeper."

gates

Origin

From gate. A topographic name for someone who lived by the gates of a medieval walled town.

gateway

Origin

From "gate" plus "way."

Gath

Origin

Various origins: * A reduced form of McGath, a Scottish surname. * A variant of Garth, an English topographic surname. * Borrowed from North German Gath, a topographic surname from Middle Low German gate (“street, alley”).

gather

Old English

From Old English gaderian ("to bring together, unite"), from a Germanic root meaning "to unite or keep."

gatherer

Origin

From Middle English gaderere, gaderare, equivalent to gather + -er.

gathering

Old English

From Old English gaderung, built from "gather" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ing."

Gatling

Origin · 1862

Named after Richard Gatling, the American inventor who patented the gun in 1862.

gato

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish gato, a relative of the English word "cat."

gator

Origin

A shortened, informal form of "alligator."

Gatorade

Origin · 1965

Named for the University of Florida "Gators", whose football team the drink was originally developed for in 1965.

gatsby

Origin · 1925

Named after the title character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel "The Great Gatsby", though the exact reason for the name is disputed.

Gatwick

Old English

From Old English gāt (“goat”) + -wick.

gauche

French

From French gauche ("left, awkward"), ultimately traced back to a Frankish word for trampling or walking clumsily — the same idea that gives us "walk."

gaucho

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish gaucho; its deeper origin is uncertain.

gaud

Origin

From Middle English gaude, gawde (“jest, prank, trick; ornamental bead in a rosary, trinket, bauble”). Compare Middle English gaudy, gaudee, of the same meaning.

gaudy

Latin

Traced through Middle English gaudi, ultimately from Latin gaudia ("joys"), tied to the idea of ornaments or trinkets. It is not related to the architect Antoni Gaudí — despite a common myth, the word predates him by centuries.

gauge

Old French

From Old French gauge, related to a Frankish word for a measuring rod or pole — the same root that eventually gives us "gallows" (originally a cross-beam or pole).

Gauguin

French

Borrowed from French Gauguin.

Gaul

Old French

From Old French Gaule, ultimately from a Frankish word meaning "foreigner" or "Roman/Celt" — the same root behind "Wales" and "Welsh."

gault

Origin · 1800

A word of local English origin used originally by quarrymen and brickmakers for this type of soil, first written down in the early 1800s.

Gauna

Spanish

Adopted into Spanish as a habitational surname originally rooted in a Basque place name.