"S" Word Origins

sandbox

Origin

A compound of "sand" and "box" — the computing sense is a metaphor from the child's play area.

sander

Origin

Formed from "sand" plus the agent suffix "-er," meaning something that sands.

sanders

Old French

From Old French sandre, ultimately from the same Arabic-Persian-Sanskrit root as "sandalwood."

Sanderson

Origin

From Sander + -son. From the Middle English Sander, a shortened form of Alexander + suffix -son.

sandhi

Origin

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit सं॒धि (saṃdhí, literally “junction; union”). Partial piecewise doublet of synthesis and synth.

Sandhu

Origin

Borrowed from Punjabi ਸੰਧੂ (sandhū).

Sandhya

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit संध्या (saṃdhyā, “twilight”).

sanding

Old English

Simply "sand" plus the "-ing" ending, going back to Old English sandiġ-style word-building.

sandman

German · 1816

Built from "sand" plus "man"; the sleep-bringing character likely comes into English from the German Sandmann, popularised by an 1816 E.T.A. Hoffmann story.

sandpaper

Origin

A straightforward compound of "sand" and "paper", describing paper originally coated with fine sand grit.

Sandra

Origin

A short form of Alexandra and, less often, of Cassandra.

sandstone

Old English

A compound of "sand" and "stone", tracing back through Old English to a Proto-West Germanic word for sand and gravel.

sandstorm

Origin

A plain compound of "sand" and "storm".

Sandstrom

Origin

Borrowed from Swedish Sandström, from sand (“sand”) + ström (“stream”).

Sandusky

Origin

From Wyandot saundustee (“water”).

sandwich

Origin

Named after the Earl of Sandwich, said to have ordered meat between bread so he could keep gambling without stopping to eat.

sandy

Old English

From Old English sandiġ, simply "sand" plus the adjective ending "-y".

sane

Latin

A learned borrowing from Latin sanus, meaning "healthy" — the same root gives us "sanity" and "sanitary".

Sanford

Origin

Reduced variant of Sandford.

sang

Origin

A clipped, dialectal form of "ginseng".

sangaree

Origin

Likely an alteration of sangria

sanger

Origin

An occupational surname from Middle English, from Old English sangere (“singer”).

sangria

Spanish

From Spanish sangría, itself from sangre, "blood", after the drink's deep red colour.

sanguinary

Origin

From Middle English sanguinarie, from Latin sanguinārius.

sanguine

Origin

From Middle English sanguine, from Old French sanguin, ultimately from Latin sanguineus (“of blood”), from sanguis (“blood”) (of uncertain origin, but probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én-, from *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”), with an obscure suffix such as *-ǵʰ- (related to body parts)) + -inus + -eus. The obsolete medical sense is in reference to the humour (blood) which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with cheerfulness, optimism, confidence, liveliness, and spiritedness. Doublet of sanguineous.

sanies

Origin

Borrowed from Latin sanies.

Sanitarium

Origin

Perhaps a blend of sanitary + sanatorium. Coined by John Harvey Kellogg.

sanitary

Latin · 1800

Borrowed in the 19th century from French sanitaire, built on Latin sanitas, "health" — related to "sanity".

sanitation

Origin

Formed from "sanitary" plus the noun ending "-ation".

sanitize

Origin

From sanitary. By surface analysis, sanity + -ize.

sanity

Latin

From Latin sanitas, "health", the same root that gives "sane" and "sanitary".

Sanjana

Origin

Transliteration of Gujarati સંજાણા (sañjāṇā).

Sanjay

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit संजय (saṃjaya).

Sanju

Origin

Borrowed from Uyghur سانجۇ (sanju).

Sanna

Italian

* As an Italian surname, from Italian Sanna. * As a Dutch surname, reduced from Susanna. * As a Greek surname, spelling variant of Sannas, from σανός (sanós, “hay”).

Sano

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 佐野 (Sano).

sans

Latin

From Old French sans, "without", ultimately from Latin sine.

Sanskrit

Sanskrit

A learned borrowing via Hindi from Sanskrit saṃskṛta, meaning "refined" or "perfected" — describing it as a polished, cultivated language.

Sant

Origin

* As an English and French surname, variant of Saint (as a Dutch surname, from a doublet, sint; also Vansant). * As an Italian surname, variant of Santo. * As a Jewish surname, variant of Sand, itself from the English noun sand. * As an Indian (Maharashtra)/Hindi surname, from संत (sant).

Santa

Spanish

Derived from Spanish Santa (“saint”).

Santana

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Santana.

Santini

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Santini.

Santino

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Santino.

santo

Latin

Borrowed from Spanish santo, "saint", ultimately from Latin sanctus.

Santorini

Medieval Latin

From Greek Santorini, ultimately from Medieval Latin "Santa Irini" ("Saint Irene"), after the patron saint of a local church built under the Latin Empire.

santorum

Origin

From the surname of former US Senator Rick Santorum (born 1958). After Santorum made statements comparing homosexuality to bestiality and opining that mutually consenting adults do not have a constitutional right to privacy with respect to sexual acts, US columnist Dan Savage gathered input from his readers and held a contest for definitions to "memorialize the scandal". Savage set up a website which defined the term, and helped to promote it. See Campaign for the neologism "santorum" for further information. Rick Santorum's surname, in turn, comes from Italian; see Santorum for more.

Santos

Portuguese

Borrowed from Portuguese Santos, literally "saints."

Santosh

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit "santosha," meaning contentment.