"M" Word Origins

mandate

Latin

From Latin mandatum ("a charge, order, commission"), from manus ("hand") + dare ("to put/give") — literally "put into someone's hands."

mandatory

Late Latin

From Late Latin mandatorius, related to mandator ("one who commands") — ultimately from the same root as mandate.

Mandel

Germanic

From the Germanic/Yiddish word for "almond," or in some cases a variant of the surname Mendel.

Mandela

Origin

Borrowed from Xhosa.

mandi

Arabic

From Malay mandi ("to bathe"); the food sense developed independently in Yemeni Arabic.

mandible

Late Latin

From Late Latin mandibula ("jaw"), from mandere ("to chew").

Mandingo

Mande

From Mandinka, the people's own name, by way of Portuguese and French traders' renderings.

mandinka

Origin

From Mandinka Mandinka (“someone from Mande”), from Mandiŋ (“Mande”) + -ka (“inhabitant suffix”).

mando

Origin

Clipping of mandatory + -o.

mandola

Origin

From Italian mandola. Doublet of pandura.

mandolin

French

From French mandoline, from Italian mandolino, a diminutive of mandola, an older stringed instrument.

mandragora

Origin

From Medieval Latin mandragora, from Latin mandragorās.

mandrake

Middle English

From Middle English mandrake, altered from mandragora after its ending was mistakenly linked to "dragon" and respelled with "drake."

mandrel

Origin

From French mandrin, probably from Vulgar Latin *mamphurinum, from Latin mamphur (“a bow drill”), ultimately from Oscan or Ancient Greek μαννοφόρον (mannophóron, “wearing a collar”), from μανά (maná, “collar”) + φέρω (phérō, “to bear”); first element cognate with Latin monile (“collar”).

mandrill

Origin

From man + drill (“Mandrillus leucophaeus”). Displaced earlier English man-tiger. First attested in 1744.

Mandy

Origin

A shortened, affectionate form of Amanda.

mane

Old English

From Old English manu ("mane"), from a Proto-Germanic root related to "neck," shared with the German word Mähne.

maness

Origin

Probably a variant of Dutch Manes.

manet

Latin

The stage-direction word "manet" ("he/she remains") comes from Latin manere ("to remain"); the painter's surname is a separate, unrelated French family name.

maneuver

Latin

From French manœuvre ("manipulation, maneuver"), ultimately from Latin manu operari, "to work by hand." It shares this root with the English word "manure."

Manfred

Germanic

Borrowed from German Manfred, combining Germanic elements meaning roughly "man" and "peace."

manful

Origin

From Middle English manful, manfull, equivalent to man + -ful.

manfulness

Origin

From Middle English manfulnesse; equivalent to manful + -ness.

mang

Old English

From Middle English mang, a variant of "among," from Old English on gemang.

manga

Chinese · 1814

Borrowed from Japanese manga, itself from Chinese characters meaning roughly "free, unrestrained" plus "drawing." The word took off after an 1814 book by the artist Hokusai used it as a title.

mangal

Portuguese

From Portuguese mangal, built from mangue ("mangrove") plus the place-forming suffix -al.

manganese

Latin

Traces back through French and Italian to Latin magnesia, from the Greek region of Magnesia, whose name also gave us "magnet" and "magnesium."

manganosite

Origin

From mangan(ese) + -ose + -ite, from German Manganosit. By surface analysis, mangan- + -ose + -ite.

mange

Old French

From Old French manjue ("itch"), related to mangier, "to eat" — the itching was thought of as the mites eating away at the skin.

mangelwurzel

Origin

From German Mangold (“chard”) + Wurzel (“root”), with the first part reinterpreted as Mangel, whence the archaic English name "root of scarcity".

manger

Old French

From Old French mangeoire, from mangier, "to eat" — the same root that gives modern French manger.

mangle

Germanic

From an Anglo-Norman word meaning "to cut to pieces" or "to mutilate," ultimately of Germanic origin, related distantly to "mayhem."

mangled

Origin

The past-participle form of mangle, formed with the regular -ed ending.

mango

Portuguese · 1580

Borrowed via Portuguese manga from a South Indian word combining terms for "mango tree" and "unripe fruit." First recorded in English for the fruit in the 1580s.

mangonel

Origin

From Old French mangonel, from Latin manganellus, manganum, from Ancient Greek μάγγανον (mánganon).

mangonize

Origin

Borrowed from Latin mangōnizō (“to adorn wares for sale”), from mangō (“dealer who adorns his wares to make them look more valuable”) (the source of English monger) + -izō (“-ize”).

mangrove

Spanish

Reshaped from an earlier form "mangrowe" under the influence of the unrelated word "grove." The original word likely came from Spanish mangle, borrowed from a Caribbean language.

mangy

Origin

Formed from mange plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

Manhattan

Dutch

From an Algonquian place name recorded by Dutch settlers, likely meaning something like "the place for gathering wood to make bows."

manhole

Origin

A straightforward compound of man and hole — an opening just wide enough for a person to climb through.

manhood

Middle English

From Middle English manhode, built from man plus the suffix -hood.

manhunt

Origin

A compound of man and hunt.

Mani

Greek

Borrowed from Greek Μάνη f (Máni).

mania

Latin

Borrowed via Latin from Greek mania, "madness," related to the verb mainesthai, "to rage or be furious."

maniacal

Greek

Built from maniac plus the adjective suffix -al, ultimately from Greek maniakos.

maniacally

Origin

Formed from maniacal plus the adverb suffix -ly.

manic

Greek

From mania plus the suffix -ic, echoing Greek manikos.

manicure

Latin

From French manucure, built from Latin manus ("hand") and cura ("care").