"J" Word Origins

Jervis

Origin

A spelling variant of Jarvis, from Gervase.

Jess

Latin

From Old French ges, from Latin iactus, "a throw" — the same root that gives us "jet" and "project."

Jessa

Origin

20th-century coinage from Jessie + feminine suffix -a; compare Jenna from Jenny.

Jesse

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ἰεσσαί (Iessaí), from Hebrew יִשַׁי (Yishai).

Jessica

Hebrew

Likely from Shakespeare's adaptation of the Hebrew name Yiskah.

Jessie

Origin

From Jess + -ie.

jest

Old French

From an Old French word for "deeds" or "exploits", which in English narrowed down over time from storytelling to joking around.

jester

Middle English

From Middle English gestour; equivalent to jest + -er.

Jesu

Middle English

From Middle English Jesu, from the vocative (and genitive, etc) form Jēsū of Latin Jēsūs, and also reflective of the vocative (and genitive, etc) form Ἰησοῦ (Iēsoû) of Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs). Gradually displaced as the normal form by Jesus in the Middle English and Early Modern English period, but retained or restored especially in a few religious texts on the model of Latin and Greek.

Jesuit

Latin · 1500

From the Latin name of the religious order, the Society of Jesus, founded in the 16th century by Ignatius of Loyola.

Jesus

Hebrew

From the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Yeshua, meaning roughly "the Lord saves" — the same underlying name as Joshua.

Jesus H. Christ

Origin

Unknown. An extension of Jesus Christ with a fantastical middle initial, perhaps derived from a reading of ΙΗΣ (IĒS) (sometimes ΙΗϹ (IĒS), using a lunate sigma), a Greek-alphabet abbreviation for Jesus (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) as three initials in Latin letters. See "Christogram" at Wikipedia. The earliest use of the phrase is unknown, although according to Mark Twain (1835–1910) it was already common in the region of Hannibal, Missouri, when he was a boy.

jet

Latin

From an Old French word meaning "a throw" or "spurt", from Latin iacere, "to throw" — the same root behind words like "eject" and "project".

jet lag

English

A compound of jet, the aircraft, and lag, meaning a delay — the body's clock lagging behind local time after fast air travel.

Jethro

Hebrew

From Hebrew Yitro, related to yeter ("abundance" or "excellence").

jetliner

Origin

From blend of jet + airliner; analyzable as jet + liner.

jetsam

Origin

From Middle English jetteson, from Anglo-Norman getteson. Doublet of jettison.

jetson

Old French

From an old form related to Old French getaison, "a throwing" — the same idea behind the more familiar word "jetsam."

jette

Origin

From French Jette.

jetter

Origin

From jet + -er.

jettison

Latin

From an old French word meaning "a throwing", ultimately from Latin iactare, "to throw repeatedly" — a distant cousin of "jet" and "jut".

jetty

Old French

From an old French word for "thrown" or "projecting", describing a structure that juts out from a building or shoreline.

Jew

Latin

From Latin and Greek forms of the Hebrew name Yehuda ("Judah"), originally referring to people of the tribe and later kingdom of Judah.

jewel

Latin

From an Old French word of uncertain origin, possibly linked to Latin words for "joy" or "joke" — the exact root is debated by historians.

jeweler

Middle English

From Middle English jueler, from Anglo-Norman jueler, or Old French juelier. By surface analysis, jewel + -er.

jewellery

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English juelrye, from Old French juelerye, equivalent to jewel + -ery.

Jewess

Old French

From Middle English "Jewesse," itself from Old French — built from "Jew" plus the feminine ending "-ess."

jewfish

Origin

For Australian fish such as Argyrosomus species, jewel and fish; see jewie. For New World species, from 17th century Jamaican English and refers to the kosher status of the Atlantic goliath grouper from at least 1697 onwards, likely as a derogatory term despite Jamaican Jews being treated better in the rule of the English than the Spanish rule.

Jewish

Latin

From "Jew" plus the adjective ending "-ish," tracing back through Old English to Latin and ultimately Hebrew.

jewry

Origin

From Middle English Jewery, from Old French juerie. By surface analysis, Jew + -ry.

Jez

Origin

A clipped nickname form of Jeremy.

Jezebel

Origin

From the biblical Queen Jezebel, a Phoenician princess in the Old Testament portrayed as leading Israel into idol worship.

JFC

English

An initialism of the exclamation Jesus fucking Christ.

jhatka

Origin

Borrowed from Punjabi ਝਟਕਾ (jhaṭkā, “sudden movement, jerking”) / جَھٹْکا (jhaṭkā). Unrelated to Slovak jatka (“slaugherhouse”) or Polish jatka (“butchershop”).

Ji

Chinese

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 薊 /蓟 (Jì), literally thistle or thistles.

Jia

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 賈／贾 (jiǎ).

Jiang

Chinese

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 蔣 /蒋 (Jiǎng). Doublet of Chiang, Chiong, Chionh, and Kiang.

jiangnan

Origin

From Hanyu Pinyin Jiāngnán, from the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 江南 (Jiāngnán, “[Place] South of the [Yangtze] River”), from Classical Chinese use of 江 (jiāng) as a proper name for the Yangtze.

jiao

Chinese

Borrowed from Mandarin Chinese jiǎo.

jib

Origin · 1660

First recorded in the 1660s; the exact origin is unclear.

jibe

Origin

Uncertain; possibly from Old French giber (“to engage in horseplay; to play roughly in sport”). Compare English jib (“usually of a horse: to stop and refuse to go forward”), Old Norse geipa (“to talk nonsense”). The noun is derived from the verb.

Jie

Chinese

From the Mandarin Chinese name for this people, via its standard romanization.

jiff

Origin

A shortened form of "jiffy."

jiffy

Origin

Origin unknown; said to have been thieves’ cant for “lightning”. Also formerly written "giffy", to which a connection with gliff has been proposed. As a kind of envelope, a genericization of Jiffy bag.

jig

Old French

Origin uncertain; possibly related to an Old French word for a fiddle, since jigs were traditionally fiddle tunes.

jigaboo

Origin

Possibly an African word akin to Bantu tshikabo (“they bow the head docilely”). Alternatively, perhaps from jig, formed similarly to bug and bugaboo.

jigger

Origin

From "jig" plus the agent suffix "-er."

jiggle

Origin

From "jig" plus the frequentative suffix "-le," suggesting repeated small movements.