"M" Word Origins

Marie

French

The French form of Mary, also an early Middle English spelling of the name — a doublet of Mary.

Mariel

Origin

From the given name Mariel, itself formed from Mary plus the suffix -el.

mariet

Origin

From French mariette, properly a diminutive of Marie (“Mary”).

Marietta

Italian

From Italian Marietta. By surface analysis, Maria /Marie /Mary + -etta. Piecewise doublet of Mariette.

marigold

Middle English

From Middle English, combining "Mary" (the Virgin Mary) with an old word for the flower, "golde."

marijuana

Spanish · 1800

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish marihuana in the 1800s; later folk stories linked it to the name "María Juana" (Mary Jane), though that origin is disputed.

Mariko

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese まりこ (Mariko).

Marilla

Origin

An American fanciful variant of Maria.

Marilyn

Origin · 1900

A twentieth-century blend of Mary and Lynn.

marimba

Origin

From Portuguese marimba, via a Bantu source, perhaps Kimbundu marimba (“xylophone”).

Marin

Origin

The county was either named after Chief Marin, of the Coast Miwok tribe, or derived from the Spanish name of its eastern bay known as Bahía de Nuestra Señora del Rosario la Marinera in 1775.

marina

Latin

From Latin marinus ("of the sea"), passed into English through Italian and Spanish marina.

marinade

French

From French marinade, built on "marine" (of the sea) plus the suffix "-ade," since early versions used seawater or brine.

marinara

Italian

From Italian alla marinara, literally "sailor style," describing simple, quickly made sauces sailors could prepare.

marinate

Latin

From Italian marinare, "to pickle," ultimately from Latin marinus ("of the sea"), because early recipes used seawater or brine.

marine

Latin

From Latin marinus ("of the sea"), from mare ("sea") — the same root behind "maritime" and "submarine."

mariner

Latin

From Old French marinier, from Latin marinus ("of the sea") — essentially "mark" + "-er" applied to the sea itself.

Mario

Italian

Borrowed from Italian and Spanish Mario, both of which coming from Latin Marius.

Marion

Middle English

From Middle English Marion, from Old French Marion, a diminutive of Marie, used in England since the Middle Ages.

marionetta

Origin

From Marion + -etta.

marionette

French

From French marionnette, originally a small figure of the Virgin Mary used in religious plays before the word came to mean any string puppet.

mariposa

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish mariposa, meaning "butterfly," likely a reference to the flower's delicate, wing-like petals.

Maris

Origin

From Maris Lane, Trumpington, Cambridge (the founding site of Cambridge University's Plant Breeding Institute), from Etruscan Maris.

Marita

Origin

Borrowed in the late 19th century from Norwegian Marita. By folk etymology, explained as a Spanish diminutive of Maria, by analogy with Anita.

marital

Latin

From Latin marītālis, from marītus ("husband").

marital status

Latin

From Latin maritalis 'of marriage', from maritus 'husband', plus status 'condition, standing'.

maritime

Latin

From Latin maritimus, from mare ("sea"), by way of Middle French maritime.

Marius

Latin

From Latin Marius, a Roman family name probably derived from Mars. By folk etymology seen as a masculine form of Maria.

marj

Origin

From Arabic المَرْج (al-Marj), from ال (al-, “the, place of the”) + مَرْج (marj, “meadow”).

marjoram

Origin

From Old French majorane, from Medieval Latin maiōrana.

Marjorie

Origin

Variant of Margery, a medieval vernacular form of Margaret.

mark

Old English

From Old English mearc, meaning "boundary" or "sign" — the same ancient root that gives us "march" (a border region).

Markdown

English

Named by John Gruber in 2004 as a play on markup, the general term for adding formatting instructions to plain text.

marked

Origin

From "mark" plus the suffix "-ed."

marker

Origin

From "mark" plus the agent suffix "-er" — literally "something (or someone) that marks."

market

Latin

From Latin mercātus ("trade, market"), from mercor ("to trade, buy"), the same root behind "merchant" and "commerce."

marketer

Origin

From market + -er (occupational suffix) or + -er (agent noun suffix).

marketing

Origin

Formed from "market" plus "-ing."

marketplace

Origin

A straightforward compound of "market" and "place."

Markie

Origin

From Mark + -ie.

marking

Old English

From Old English mearcung, formed from "mark" plus "-ing."

marksman

Origin

Built from mark (a target) plus man — literally someone who consistently hits the mark.

marksmanship

Origin

From marksman plus the suffix -ship, which turns a role into the skill or quality associated with it (compare "leadership").

markup

Origin

Deverbal from mark up.

Markus

German

A less common spelling of Marcus, popular in German-speaking and Scandinavian countries.

markworthy

Origin

From mark + -worthy. Compare German merkwürdig (“strange, odd”).

Marky

Origin

Formed from Mark plus the familiar "-y" ending used in nicknames, as in Johnny or Bobby.

Marla

Origin · 1930

The name arose in the 1930s in the US as a shortened form of Marlene; the land-measurement sense has a separate South Asian origin.