"S" Word Origins

Santy

Origin

Formed from Santa plus the diminutive suffix "-y."

Sanya

Russian

As a Russian name, a diminutive of Aleksandra/Aleksandr; as a place name, from local Chinese.

Sao

Greek

From Greek Sao, meaning "the rescuer," from the verb "sozo," to save.

sap

Old English

From Old English "saep" ("juice, sap"), from a Proto-Germanic root related to taste; the "gullible person" sense comes from "sapskull," literally someone with sap instead of brains.

saphead

Origin

From sap + head.

sapidity

Origin

Borrowed from New Latin sapiditās. By surface analysis, sapid + -ity.

sapidless

Origin

From sapid + -less.

sapien

Origin

The word is a singular form, derived by back-formation and shortening of translingual Homo sapiens by interpreting the latter as an English plural form. However, in Latin the word sapiens is strictly singular, its plural form being sapientes (and the Latin plural of homo sapiens is homines sapientes).

sapiens

Latin

From Latin "sapiens," meaning "wise" or "discerning," the present participle of "sapere," to know.

sapient

Origin

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sapient (“learned, wise”), from Old French sapient, or from its etymon Latin sapient-, a stem of sapiēns (“(adjective) discerning, judicious, wise; (noun) wise man, sage”), the present active participle of sapiō (“to have a flavour of, taste like; (figurative) to have good taste; to have discernment or sense; to be prudent, sensible, or wise”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”). Doublet of savant. The noun is derived from the adjective, and also influenced by Latin sapiēns (noun) (see above).

sapiosexual

Latin

From Latin sapiens "wise, intelligent" plus sexual.

sapling

Middle English

From Middle English "sapling," built from sap plus the diminutive suffix "-ling."

Sapna

Hindi

From Hindi "sapna," meaning "dream."

saponaceous

Origin

From Latin sapōnāceus, from oblique stem of sāpō, sāpōnis + -āceus.

sapor

Origin

From Middle English sapour, sapoure, from Latin sapor. Doublet of savour /savor.

sapphic

Origin

Sappho (Ancient Greek Σαπφώ (Sapphṓ)) + -ic, whence Latin Sapphicus. Sense related to sexuality alludes to Sappho's poetry discussing love between women (see also lesbian).

sapphire

Ancient Greek

From Old French "saphir," ultimately from Ancient Greek "sappheiros," itself likely borrowed from a Semitic word for lapis lazuli.

Sapporo

Japanese

From Japanese "Sapporo," itself from an Ainu phrase meaning roughly "dry, great river."

sappy

Old English

From Old English "saepig," meaning "full of sap," built from sap plus "-y."

Sar

Origin

From Khmer ស (sɑɑ) or Khmer សរ (sɑɑ).

Sara

Latin

From Latin "Sara," itself from the Hebrew name Sarah.

Saracen

Ancient Greek

From Late Latin "Saracenus," from Ancient Greek "Sarakenos," of disputed origin — possibly linked to Arabic words for "easterners" or "plunderers."

saracenic

Origin

From Saracen + -ic.

Sarah

Hebrew

From Biblical Hebrew "sarah," meaning "lady" or "princess."

sarai

Origin

From Persian سرای (sarây, “courtyard; dwelling; palace”).

Sarajevo

Ottoman Turkish

From Ottoman Turkish "saray" ("palace") plus a Serbo-Croatian suffix meaning "plain" or "lowland."

saran

Origin

Originally a trade name coined by the Dow Chemical Company for polymers made from vinylidene chloride.

Saratoga

Dutch

Adapted from a Mohawk phrase describing the hillside country of a quiet river, later respelled by early Dutch settlers.

sarcasm

Late Latin

From Late Latin "sarcasmus," from Greek "sarkasmos" ("a sneer"), literally "to strip off the flesh" — from "sarx," meaning flesh.

sarcastic

Greek

From "sarcasm" plus the adjective suffix "-astic," ultimately from Greek "sarx" ("flesh").

sarcastically

Origin

From "sarcastic" plus the adverb suffix "-ally."

sarcoid

Origin

By surface analysis, sarc- + -oid.

sarcophagan

Origin

Sarcophaga + -an

sarcophagous

Origin

sarco- + -phagous

sarcophagus

Latin

From Latin "sarcophagus," from Greek "sarkophagos," literally "flesh-eating" — originally describing a type of limestone believed to dissolve the flesh of corpses, later used for stone coffins.

sarcophagy

Origin

From sarco- + -phagy.

sard

Origin

From Middle English sarde, borrowed from Old French sarde, from Latin sarda, sardius. Doublet of sardius.

Sardar

Persian

From Persian "sardar," a compound of "sar" ("head") and a word for "holder" or "possessor."

sardine

Ancient Greek

From French "sardine," from Latin "sardina," from Ancient Greek "sardine" — possibly named after the island of Sardinia, where the fish was once abundant.

sardines

Origin

Named after the way players end up packed tightly together, like sardines in a tin.

Sardinia

Latin

From Latin "Sardinia," possibly linked to the Sherden, an ancient people among the so-called Sea Peoples.

sardinian

Origin

From Latin Sardiniānus.

sare

Origin

Variant of sear (“dry”).

sarge

Origin

A clipped, informal form of "sergeant."

Sargent

Origin

A variant spelling of "sergeant," originally an occupational surname.

sari

Sanskrit

From Hindi "sari," ultimately from Sanskrit "shati," meaning "strip of cloth."

sarin

German · 1930

Named using the initials of the German chemists who developed it in the 1930s.

Sarita

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit "sarita," meaning "stream" or "river."