"I" Word Origins

Idris

Welsh

Borrowed from Welsh Idris.

idyllic

Origin

From idyll + -ic; an idyll was originally a short poem describing peaceful, picturesque country scenes.

if

Old English

From Old English gif, going back to a Proto-Germanic word meaning "when" or "if."

iffy

Origin

From if + -y.

iframe

English

A shortening of inline frame, the name of the HTML element.

IfS

German

Borrowed from German IfS (“Institut für Staatspolitik”).

Iga

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 伊賀 (Iga).

iggy

Italian

The chat sense comes from clipping "ignore" and adding the informal -y ending; the dog sense is simply a nickname formed the same way from "Italian Greyhound."

ight

Old English

From Old English "ǣht," meaning possessions or property, related to an ancient root meaning "to own" or "to have."

Iglesias

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish iglesias.

igloo

Origin

From Inuktitut iglu, meaning "house" or "dwelling" of any kind — English narrowed the word to mean specifically the snow-block shelter.

Ignacio

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Ignacio. This surname is mostly found in the Philippines.

Ignatius

Latin

From Latin Ignatius, altered to resemble ignis ("fire"), giving it a folk association with the meaning "fiery one."

ignaty

Origin

Borrowed from Russian Игна́тий (Ignátij), from Latin Ignātius.

igneous

Origin

From Latin igneus (“fiery”). By surface analysis, Latin ign- + -eous.

ignite

Latin

From Latin ignire, "to set on fire," from ignis, "fire" — the same root behind words like "igneous."

igniter

Origin

From ignite + -er.

ignition

Latin

Borrowed from French ignition, ultimately from Latin ignis, "fire."

ignitive

Origin

From ignite + -ive.

ignoble

Latin

From Middle French ignoble, from Latin ignobilis — "not" (in-) + "noble" (nobilis).

ignominy

Latin

From Latin ignominia, from in-, 'not', and nomen, 'name' or 'reputation'.

ignoramus

Latin · 1615

From the name of the foolish lawyer character Ignoramus in George Ruggle's 1615 play of the same name; ultimately from Latin ignoramus, "we do not know."

ignorance

Latin

From Old French ignorance, from Latin ignorantia, from ignorare, "not to know."

ignorance is bliss

Origin

From Thomas Gray's poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742): "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."

ignorant

Latin

From Old French ignorant, from Latin ignorans, "not knowing."

ignore

Latin

From French ignorer, from Latin ignorare, "not to know" — from in- ("not") + gnarus ("knowing").

Igor

Old Norse

Taken from the Russian given name Igor, which traces back to an Old Norse name meaning roughly "army of the god Yngvi"; the horror-movie stock character became so familiar that the name turned into a generic label for that role.

iguana

Spanish

From Spanish iguana, from the Taíno word iwana.

Ii

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 井伊 (Ii).

IIRC

English

An initialism of 'if I recall correctly'.

Ik

Origin

From Ik Icé-tód.

Ike

Origin

A short form of Eisenhower. Several of his siblings went by the same nickname, but it stuck permanently to Dwight after he became a famous general.

IKEA

Origin

Borrowed from Swedish IKEA.

Ikebukuro

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 池(いけ)袋(ぶくろ) (Ikebukuro).

Ikeda

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 池田 (Ikeda).

IKR

English

An initialism of 'I know, right?'.

Ilan

Hebrew

From Hebrew אִילָן (Ilán, “tree, oak tree”).

ilex

Origin

Borrowed from Latin ilex (“holm oak”).

Iliad

Latin

From Latin Iliadis, ultimately from Greek Ilias, "the poem of Ilion" (Ilion being another name for Troy).

ilium

Origin

Borrowed from Latin īlium (“lower abdomen”), from īle (“flank”).

ilk

Old English

From Old English ilca, "same" — originally used in Scottish surnames to mean "of that same [place]," then broadened to mean "kind" or "sort."

ill

Old Norse

From Old Norse illr, "bad, evil," related to Danish ilde and Swedish illa.

illation

Origin

From Latin illātiō (“logical inference, deduction, conclusion”), from illātus, perfect passive participle of inferō (“carry or bring into somewhere; conclude”), from in + ferō (“bear, carry; suffer”).

illative

Origin

From Late Latin illātīvus (“illative”), from Latin illātus, perfect passive participle of inferō (“carry or bring into somewhere; bury; conclude”), from in + ferō (“bear, carry; suffer”).

illecebrous

Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin and Latin illecebrōsus (“attractive, enticing”) + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives denoting possession or presence of a quality, commonly in abundance). Illecebrōsus is derived from illecebra (“enticement, lure”) + -ōsus (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘full of’); illecebra from illiciō (“to entice, seduce”) (from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, within’) + laciō (“to ensnare, entice”)) + -bra (suffix forming nouns denoting an instrument).

illegal

Medieval Latin

Borrowed from French illégal, from Medieval Latin illegalis — "not" (il-) + "legal" (legalis).

illegalise

Origin

From illegal + -ise.

illegality

Origin

From French illégalité, equivalent to il- + legality or illegal + -ity.