"I" Word Origins

itch

Old English

From Old English giccan, of unknown deeper origin, related to Dutch jeuk and German jucken.

itching

Middle English

From Middle English ecchinge, ȝitchinge, ʒicchinde, ʒichande (also unassibilated as yckyng), from Old English ġiċċende (“itching”), from Proto-West Germanic *jukkjandi, present participle of *jukkjan (“to itch”), equivalent to itch + -ing.

itchy

Middle English

From Middle English *yicchy, *ȝicchi, from Old English ġiċċiġ (“itchy”), equivalent to itch + -y. Cognate with Scots yeukie (“itchy”), West Frisian jokkerich (“itchy”), Dutch jeukachtig and jeukerig (“itchy”).

item

Latin

From Latin item, "also, likewise," originally used to introduce each new entry in a list — the word itself later became the name for each entry.

iterate

Origin

The adjective is first attested in 1471, in Middle English, the verb in 1533, the noun in 1941; partly inherited from Middle English iterat(e) (adjective), partly borrowed from Latin iterātus, perfect passive participle of iterō (“to do something for a second time, repeat”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)) , from iterum (“again”) + -ō. Sporadical participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

iteration

Origin

From Latin iterātiō, from iterō. Morphologically iterate + -ion.

ith

Origin

Formed from the letter i (used as a placeholder variable) plus the ordinal suffix -th, as in "fourth" or "fifth."

Ithaca

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ithákē, the name of the island in Homer's Odyssey.

ithyphallic

Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin ithyphallicus, from Ancient Greek ἰθυφαλλικός (ithuphallikós), from ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος (īthŭ́phallos, “phallus carried in festivals of Bacchus; ode sung in honour of the phallus; dance accompanying such an ode; dancer performing such a dance”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος is derived from ἰθῠ́ς (ithŭ́s) (variant of εὐθῠ́ς (euthŭ́s, “straight”)) + φαλλός (phallós, “penis; image of a penis, phallus”). The English word can be analysed as ithyphallus + -ic. As regards the noun, compare Latin ithyphallicum (“poem with the same metre as the hymns to Priapus”).

itinerance

Origin

From French itinérance. By surface analysis, Latin itiner- + -ance.

itinerancy

Origin

By surface analysis, Latin itiner- + -ancy.

itinerant

Late Latin

From Late Latin itinerantem, "travelling," from iter, "journey" or "road."

itinerarium

Origin

From Latin itinerārium, from itiner- + -ārium.

itinerary

Late Latin

From Late Latin itinerarium, "a description of a route," from iter, "journey."

itinerate

Origin

By surface analysis, Latin itiner- + -ate.

itis

Origin

A back-formation from the medical suffix -itis, which denotes inflammation (as in "bronchitis" or "appendicitis").

Ito

Japanese

From Japanese characters read as Itō, most often written 伊藤 or 伊東.

its

Old English · 1500

Formed in the 1500s–1600s as a new possessive form of "it" — Old English originally used "his" instead.

itself

Middle English

From Middle English hit self, built from "it" plus the reflexive suffix "-self", the same pattern seen in "himself" and "herself".

itsy

Origin

Baby-talk shortening of "little", with the diminutive ending "-sy" tacked on for cuteness.

itzhak

Origin

Borrowing from Hebrew יצחק.

IV

English

An initialism of intravenous. The unrelated numeral sense comes from the Roman system, where I before V means one less than five.

Ivan

Russian

From Russian Iván, a Slavic form of the same root that gives English "John," "Ian," "Sean," and "Giovanni."

Ivana

Origin

The feminine form of Ivan, shared across several Slavic languages; related to "Joan," "Jean," and "Jane."

Ivanhoe

Origin · 1819

Invented by Sir Walter Scott for his 1819 novel, possibly inspired by the English village of Ivinghoe.

Ivanov

Origin

A patronymic surname built from the given name Ivan, meaning "of Ivan" or "son of Ivan."

Ivanova

Origin

The feminine counterpart to the surname Ivanov, following the Slavic pattern of gendered surname endings.

Ivanovich

Origin

A patronymic built from the given name Ivan plus the masculine patronymic suffix -ovich.

Ivanovna

Origin

A patronymic built from the given name Ivan plus the feminine patronymic suffix -ovna.

Iverson

Norwegian

Borrowed from the Danish/Norwegian surname Iversen, itself a patronymic from the name Iver.

Ives

Latin

From the medieval English given name usually recorded in its Latin form, Ivo.

Ivo

Latin

A Latinised medieval name from Old French, ultimately from a Proto-Germanic word for "yew" or "bow"; related to the modern French name Yves.

Ivor

Old Norse

A medieval English form of the Old Norse name Ívarr; a doublet of the name Igor.

ivory

Latin

From Anglo-Norman "ivurie", from Latin "eboreus" ("of ivory"), tracing back to an ancient Egyptian word for elephant and ivory — a very long journey for one small word.

ivy

Old English

From Old English "īfig", an ancient Germanic plant name going back to a very old Indo-European root — the plant itself has been climbing walls in English for well over a thousand years.

Ivy League

Origin

From earlier Ivy colleges (1933), as Ivy League first used by AP sports editor Alan J. Gould (1935). The title became official after the formation of the athletic conference in 1954. From the tradition of Ivy Day at many older colleges and universities, where ivy is planted to honor academic excellence.

iwan

Origin

Borrowed from Arabic إِيوَان (ʔīwān), from Classical Persian اَیْوَان (aywān, “porch”); see there for more. Doublet of apadana.

IX

Origin

Shortened from "index" (as in index finger), the finger used to make the pointing sign.

ixnay

Origin

Pig Latin version of nix; possibly the only Pig Latin word to enter common American English besides amscray and igpay. Ixnay and amscray were used widely in The Three Stooges shorts and The Flintstones episodes, possibly the main sources of popularity for the words.

Iyer

Origin

Borrowed from the Tamil word aiyar, referring to this Brahmin caste.

IYKYK

English

An initialism of the phrase "if you know, you know," which spread through social media captions and comments in the late 2010s.

Iz

Origin

Eye dialect spelling of is.

Izmir

Ottoman Turkish

From Turkish İzmir, ultimately from Ottoman Turkish; a doublet of the ancient name Smyrna.

Izu

Japanese

From Japanese Izu, the name of the historical province and modern city.

Izumi

Japanese

From Japanese izumi, meaning "spring" or "fountain."

Izzy

Origin

Formed from the "Iz-" sound shared by names like Isabel, Isaac, and Israel, plus the affectionate -y ending.