"L" Word Origins

Laramie

Origin

Named after Jacques La Ramie, a fur trapper who visited the area in the early 19th century.

larboard

Origin

From Middle English ladde-bord, latebord, most likely referring to the side of the ship on which cargo was loaded. Changed to larboard in the 1500s by association with starboard. (Texts from the 1500s have spellings like lerbord, leereboord, larboord, corresponding to how they spell sterbord, steereboord, starboord.)

larceny

Latin

From Anglo-Norman larcin ("theft"), ultimately from Latin latro, "robber" or "mercenary."

lard

Latin

From Old French lard ("bacon"), from Latin lardum, "bacon fat."

larder

Old French

From Old French lardier, related to "lard" — originally a place for storing bacon.

large

Latin

From Old French large, from Latin larga, "abundant, plentiful."

largeish

Origin

From large + -ish.

largely

Origin

From "large" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

largifluous

Origin

From Latin largifluus + -ous.

largo

Latin

Borrowed from Italian largo, meaning "broad" or "slow," from Latin largus.

lariat

Origin

From Spanish la reata (“the lasso”).

Larissa

Ancient Greek

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Λάρισσα (Lárissa).

lark

Old English

From Old English lāwerce, referring to the bird — the sense of "prank" developed much later and its origin is uncertain.

Laroche

Origin

French surname, from several placenames or nicknames from la roche (“the rock”). Compare Roche.

larping

English

From the acronym LARP, live action role play, used as a verb.

larrup

Origin

Uncertain. Many dictionaries suggest a connection with Dutch larpen (“to thresh with flails”).

Larry

Origin

The name Larry blends and shortens "Laurence"/"Lawrence"; the "commotion" sense is a separate, older informal usage of unclear origin.

Lars

Latin

Borrowed from North Germanic, from Latin Laurentius.

Larsen

Origin

From Danish and Norwegian Larsen.

Larson

Origin

Originally from a Middle English pet form of Lawrence + -son. In the United States, a common anglicization of the Swedish Larsson and Danish and Norwegian Larsen.

larva

Latin

From Latin larva, originally meaning "ghost" or "mask" — the idea being that the larval form disguises the adult creature within.

laryngitis

Origin · 1800

A 19th-century scientific coinage from "larynx" plus the medical suffix "-itis," meaning "inflammation."

larynx

Ancient Greek

Borrowed via New Latin from Ancient Greek larynx, meaning "throat" or "windpipe."

lasagna

Ancient Greek

From Italian lasagna, possibly tracing back to a Latin word for a cooking pot, via Ancient Greek.

lasagne

Origin

From Italian.

Lasalle

French

From French Lasalle.

lascivious

Latin

From Latin lascivus, meaning "playful" or "wanton," which took on a more sexual overtone over time.

laser

Origin · 1957

An acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," coined by physicist Gordon Gould in 1957.

lash

Middle English

From Middle English lasshe, referring to the flexible end of a whip, from a Proto-Germanic word meaning "strap" or "flap of fabric."

lashing

Origin

Formed from lash plus the suffix -ing.

lask

Origin

From Middle English lasken (“to diminish, weaken (the blood or other body fluids, body tissues, etc.); to thin (the blood through bloodletting); to alleviate (pain, sickness); to grow weak; to shorten (one’s life)”) [and other forms], from Old Northern French *lasquer, Old French lascher, laschier (“to let go of, release; to loosen, relax”) (modern French lâcher (“to let go of, release; to loosen”)), from Vulgar Latin *lascāre, *lassicāre, from Latin *laxicāre, the frequentative of Latin laxāre, the present active infinitive of laxō (“to relax, weaken; to release, undo; to make wide, open”), from laxus (“free, loose, slack; roomy, spacious, wide”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g- (“faint; weak”).

Lasky

Origin

Variant of Laski.

lass

Middle English

From Middle English lasse, meaning a young girl or woman, likely related to an Old Norse word for "unmarried".

lassie

Origin

From lass plus the diminutive suffix -ie.

lassitude

Origin

Borrowed from French lassitude, from Latin lassitūdō (“faintness, weariness”), from lassus (“faint, weary”), perhaps for *ladtus, and thus akin to English late.

lasso

Latin

From Spanish lazo ("loop, snare"), tracing back to Latin laqueus ("noose") — the same root that gives us "lace".

last

Old English

From Old English latost, the superlative form of "late" — so "last" originally meant "latest".

last minute

English

A literal compound of last and minute, used figuratively for the final moments before a deadline.

lastborn

Origin

From last + born.

lasting

Origin

From the verb last, meaning "to endure", plus -ing.

lastly

Origin

From last plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

Laszlo

Origin

Borrowed from Hungarian László, from the Slavic given name Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav. Doublet of Ladislaus.

lat

Origin

Borrowed from Hindi लाट (lāṭ, “pillar; minaret; staff, club”), लाठ (lāṭh, “long staff; cudgel”), etc.

Lata

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit लता (latā, “creeper”).

latch

Old English

From Old English læċċan, meaning "to grasp or seize".

late

Old English

From Old English læt, meaning "slow" or "sluggish" — related to the verb "let".

latecomer

Origin

From late + comer.

lately

Origin

From late plus -ly.