"S" Word Origins

sitch

Middle English

From Middle English sich, siche, from Old English sīċ (“a watercourse; sike”), from Proto-West Germanic *sīk, from Proto-Germanic *sīką (“slow flowing water; a trickle”).

sitcom

Origin

A shortening of "situation comedy."

site

Latin

From Latin situs, "position, place," via Anglo-Norman and Middle English.

sitemap

English

A compound of site and map.

sith

Old English

The archaic sense comes from Old English sith, "journey" or "occasion." The Star Wars sense was coined by George Lucas.

sithence

Origin

From sithen + -ence.

sitrep

Origin

A clipped form of "situation report."

sitter

Origin

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

sitting

Origin

From "sit" plus the suffix "-ing."

sitty

Origin

Borrowed from South Levantine Arabic ستّ or a related term.

Situ

Origin

From Mandarin 司徒 (Sītú).

situate

Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin situātus, past participle of Medieval Latin situō (“to locate, place”), from Latin situs (“a site”).

situation

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin situatio, "position," from Latin situs, "a site."

situs

Origin

Borrowed from Latin situs (“position, site”). Doublet of site and sitio.

sitzkrieg

Origin

Borrowed from German Sitzkrieg (“sitting war”), a pun on Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”).

Siu

Origin

Borrowed from Cantonese 蕭／萧 (siu1) or 邵 (siu6).

six

Latin

From Old English six, tracing back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European word for the number, related to Latin sex and Greek hex.

sixer

Origin

From six + -er.

sixpence

Origin

From "six" plus "pence."

sixpenny

Origin

From six + penny.

sixteen

Old English

From Old English sixtiene, from "six" plus the suffix "-teen."

sixteenth

Origin

From "sixteen" plus the ordinal suffix "-th."

sixth

Old English

From Old English siexta, related to "six."

sixty

Old English

From Old English sixtig, from "six" plus the suffix "-ty."

sizable

Origin

From "size" plus the suffix "-able."

size

Latin

Originally meant a fixed regulation or standard amount, from Old French assise ("assize"), ultimately from Latin sedere, "to sit."

sized

Origin

From "size" plus "-ed."

sizhou

Origin

From Hanyu Pinyin Sìzhōu, from the Mandarin pronunciation of both Chinese 泗州 (Sìzhōu, “zhou on the Si River”) and 肆州 (Sìzhōu), used as both the name of the prefectures, subprefectures, &c. and their seats of government.

sizzle

Origin

Likely from an old imitative word meaning "to hiss" or "buzz," reflecting the sound itself.

sizzler

Origin

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

sjambok

Origin

From Afrikaans sjambok, from Dutch sjambok, from Javanese cambuk, and as borrowed in Malay: modern Indonesian and Malay, ultimately from Persian چابک (čâbok). Originally spelt in the colonial Dutch transliteration tscamboek. The term was imported by VOC officials, Dutch merchants, the Maardijkers (Maluku (Moluccan) freemen and burghers), and Inlanders (Javanese and other modern Indonesian slaves and political exiles expelled to Dutch South Africa). Doublet of chabuk.

ska

Origin

Origin uncertain, possibly imitating the sharp, choppy sound of the guitar, or from a term coined by a Jamaican musician.

skainsmate

Origin

Etymology and meaning uncertain. Possibly from skean (“sword”) or skein (“quantity of thread”) + -s- + mate (“companion; comrade; colleague”). * Sword could imply a companion in arms or a cutthroat; or it may be a euphemism for penis and hence a sexual companion. * Thread could also mean either a companion in winding thread, possibly a sailor or seamstress, or a sexual metaphor equating sewing with sexual intercourse. Flirt-gill (“promiscuous woman”) in the same passage suggests a sexual interpretation.

skank

Origin

Origin uncertain; possibly related to the older slang word "skag," itself of unknown origin.

skanky

Origin

From "skank" plus "-y."

skate

Old French

From Dutch schaats, ultimately from an Old French word for a stilt, related to a Germanic root meaning "to shake" or "to move quickly."

skateboard

Origin · 1900

A combination of "skate" and "board," dating from the mid-20th century.

skater

Origin

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

skedaddle

Origin · 1861

First recorded around 1861 in American Civil War slang, of uncertain origin — possibly linked to a British dialect word "scaddle" meaning "to run off in fright."

skeet

Origin · 1920

Probably an altered form of "shoot," coined in the 1920s for the clay-target sport.

skeeter

Origin

A clipped, casual pronunciation of "mosquito," similar to how "tater" comes from "potato."

Skeffington

Origin

From the Old English personal name *Sċeaft, a byname from sċeaft (“shaft”), + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

skein

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English skaine, skayne (“quantity of string, thread, etc., wound on a reel; the string, thread, etc., so wound”), from Old French escaigne (modern French écagne, écaigne (Picardy)); further etymology uncertain, probably from Proto-Celtic, from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to split off”). The verb is derived from noun. cognates * Irish scáinne (“skein, clew”)

skeletal

Origin

From "skeleton" plus the adjective ending "-al."

skeleton

New Latin

From New Latin "sceleton," ultimately from Greek "skeletós," meaning "dried up" or "withered" — describing a dried-out body.

skell

Origin

* Perhaps from skeleton, describing the often skeletal appearance of drug users. * Alternatively, from skellum or skelder ("to beg in the streets"). Used by Ben Jonson, 1599. * In the sense of a suspicious person, popularized by the American TV police drama NYPD Blue.

skelly

Origin

From a clipping of skeleton + -y (diminutive suffix).

skelter

Origin

Related to the phrase "helter-skelter," meaning in disorderly haste.