"S" Word Origins

sonnet

Latin

From Italian sonetto, "little song," via Old Occitan sonet — ultimately from Latin sonus, "sound."

sonny

Origin

From son + the diminutive/familiar suffix -y.

sonogram

Latin

From Latin sonus, "sound," plus the combining form -gram, "something written or recorded."

sonographer

Origin

sonograph + -er

sonographist

Origin

sonograph + -ist

Sonora

Spanish

Borrowed through Spanish, possibly from an indigenous Opata word.

sonorous

Origin

Borrowed from Latin sonōrus, from sonor (“sound”), early 17th century.

sonsy

Origin

From Scots, from Scottish Gaelic sonasach.

sontag

German · 1800

Named after the celebrated 19th-century German soprano Henriette Sontag, after whom the garment style became fashionable.

Sony

Latin

The company name blends Latin sonus ("sound") with "sonny," suggesting a lively young company built around sound technology.

Sonya

Greek

From Russian Соня (Sonja), an informal short form of Софья (Sofia), itself from Greek sophia, "wisdom."

sook

Origin

Likely grew out of the verb "suck," by way of older pet names like Sukey and Suke used for hand-reared calves.

Sookie

Hebrew

A variant of the name Susan or Susannah, from Hebrew שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (“Shoshána”) meaning "rose" or "lily".

sooky

Origin

From sook + -y (“characteristic of”) and -y (“diminutive”).

soon

Old English

From Old English sona, "immediately, at once," which originally meant right away rather than the milder "before long" sense it has now.

Sooner

Origin

From sooner (comparative of soon), because these settlers arrived "sooner" than the legally permitted date.

Soong

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 宋 (sòng).

soot

Old English

From Old English sot, going back to a very old Germanic word for soot.

sooth

Origin

From Middle English sooth, from Old English sōþ (“truth; true, actual, real”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþ, from Proto-Germanic *sanþaz (“truth; true”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁sónts, *h₁s-ont- (“being, existence, real, true”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”). Akin to Old Saxon sōþ (“true”), Old High German sand (“true”), Old Norse sannr (“true”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌰 (sunja, “truth”), Old English synn (“sin, guilt"; literally, "being the one guilty”). More at sin. See also soothe, derived from the same Old English word.

soothe

Old English

From Old English sothian, "to prove true, confirm" — related to "sooth" (truth). The sense shifted over centuries from "confirm what someone says" to "comfort them," as agreeing with someone naturally calms them down.

soother

Origin

From soothe + -er.

soothfast

Origin

From Middle English sothfast, from Old English sōþfæst (“true, trustworthy”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþafast. Equivalent to sooth + fast.

soothing

Origin

From soothe + the adjective-forming ending -ing.

soothsayer

Middle English

From Middle English sothsaier, literally "truth-sayer" — from sooth ("truth") + sayer, since such figures claimed to speak truths about what was to come.

soothsaying

Origin

From sooth (“truth”) + saying.

sop

Old English

From Old English sopa, "a piece of bread soaked in liquid" — related to "sup" and a doublet of "soup."

Sophia

Latin

From Greek sophia, "wisdom," via Latin Sophia — long associated with the early Christian martyr Saint Sophia and used widely across European royal families.

Sophie

French

From French Sophie, equivalent to English Sophia, both ultimately from Greek sophia, "wisdom."

sophism

Origin

From Middle English sophim, from Old French soffime, sofime, sofisme, sophisme, from Latin sophisma (“fallacy, sophism”), from Ancient Greek σόφῐσμᾰ (sóphĭsmă), from σοφίζω (sophízō) + -μα (-ma).

sophisticate

Origin

From Middle English sophisticaten (“to mix (something) with a foreign or inferior substance, adulterate”), from Medieval Latin sophisticātus, the perfect passive participle of sophisticāre (“to disguise; to tamper with; to trick using words”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more). Sophisticāre is derived from Latin sophisticus (“pertaining to the ancient Sophists, sophistic; pertaining to sophistry, sophistic, sophistical”) (from Ancient Greek σοφιστικός (sophistikós), from σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “master of a craft; prudent or wise person; philosopher; teacher, tutor; (derogatory) one who profits from false wisdom, cheat, swindler”), from σοφός (sophós, “able, skilful; clever, intelligent, prudent, wise; cunning”), further etymology unknown) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix). Cognates * French sophistiquer * Italian sofisticare * Spanish sofisticar

sophisticated

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin sophisticatus. The word originally meant "adulterated" or "not genuine" and only later came to mean "refined" or "worldly."

sophistication

Medieval Latin

From Old French sophisticacion, from Medieval Latin sophisticationem, related to sophisticate.

sophistry

Origin

From Middle English safistre, soffistre, sofystry, sophestrie, sophestry, sophestrye, sophistre, sophistri, sophistrie, sophistry, sophistrye, sophystrye, from Old French sofisterie, sophistrie and Medieval Latin sophistria, Anglo-Latin sophestria, from Latin sophista, from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “wise man”), from σοφίζω (sophízō, “to be wise”), from σοφός (sophós, “wise”), equivalent to sophist + -ry.

sophomore

Greek

From an older word sophum, "a display of clever but flawed argument," from Greek sophisma — likely blended in people's minds with Greek sophos ("wise") and moros ("foolish"), giving the word its odd "wise fool" flavour.

sophont

Origin

From sopho- + -ont. First used in the 1966 works by Poul Anderson, coined by his wife Karen Anderson.

sophy

Origin

Ultimately from Ancient Greek; see Sophia.

soporific

Origin

From French soporifique, from Latin sopor (“deep sleep”). Unrelated to stupor (distinct in Proto-Indo-European).

soppy

Origin

From sop + -y. The "overly sentimental" sense is unrelated to the similar-sounding "sappy," despite the overlap in meaning.

soprano

Latin

From Italian soprano, "above" — from Latin super, "above" — because it is the highest vocal part. Related to the word "sovereign," which comes from the same Latin root by a different path.

sor

Origin

Clipping of sorority, like frat from fraternity.

sora

Origin · 1800

First recorded in Virginia in the early 1800s; the name likely comes from an Indigenous language of that region, though its exact source is uncertain.

Soraya

Persian

From Persian, referring to the Pleiades star cluster.

sorbet

French

Traced back through French and Italian to Ottoman Turkish şerbet and Arabic sharba ("a drink"); a distant relative of both "sherbet" and "syrup."

Sorbonne

Origin · 1257

Named after Robert de Sorbon, who founded the original college in 1257.

sorcerer

Latin

From Old French sorcier, ultimately from Latin sors ("fate, lot") — the same root that gives us "sorcery."

sorceress

Anglo-Norman

The feminine form of sorcerer, from Anglo-Norman sorceresse.

sorcery

Latin

From Old French sorcerie, ultimately from Latin sors ("fate, lot") — the same root behind "sorcerer."

sordid

Latin

From Latin sordidus ("dirty, filthy"), from sordes ("dirt, filth").