"U" Word Origins

upstate

Origin

Simply up + state, describing the part of a state that lies "up" from its main population center.

upstir

Origin

From up- + stir.

upstream

Origin

From up- + stream.

upsurge

Origin

From up- + surge.

upswing

Origin

From up- + swing.

uptake

Middle English

From Middle English uptaken, "to take up" — built from up + take.

upthrow

Origin

From Middle English upthrowen, equivalent to up- + throw.

upthrust

Origin

From up- + thrust.

uptick

Origin

From up- + tick.

Upton

Old English

From Old English upp (“up”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

uptown

Origin

From up + town; usage varies by city — in Manhattan it means north, but in some cities (like Charlotte) it refers to the downtown core itself.

upturn

Origin

From Middle English upturnen, equivalent to up- + turn.

upward

Old English

From Old English upweardes, from up + -weard ("-ward," meaning "in the direction of").

upwards

Old English

From Old English upweardes, the same root as upward, with an added adverbial -s.

ur

Origin

Ultimately from Sumerian 𒋀𒀕𒆠 (Urim).

uranium

Origin · 1789

Named in 1789 by the chemist Martin Klaproth after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered just a few years earlier.

Uranus

Latin

Named after Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, via Latin Ūranus.

urarthritis

Origin

From uro- + arthritis.

urban

Latin

From Latin urbānus, "of a city," from urbs, "city" — the same root that gives us "suburb" and "urbane."

urbane

Origin

A variant of urban + -ane (a variant of -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives)). Urban is borrowed from Middle French urbain (“belonging to a city, urban; courteous, refined, urbane”) (modern French urbain), or from its etymon Latin urbānus (“of or belonging to a city, urban; of manners or style: like those of city dwellers: cultivated, polished, refined, sophisticated”), from urbs (“city; walled town; Rome”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; a belt; an enclosure, fence”) or *werbʰ- (“to enclose”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Compare typologically civil, courteous.

urchin

Latin

From Middle English yrchoun, "hedgehog," ultimately from Latin ēricius — the sea creature and the scruffy child were both named for their resemblance to a hedgehog's spines.

Urdu

Persian

From Persian and ultimately Turkic ordu, "army camp" — the language grew out of the speech used in military camps in Mughal-era India. It shares this root with the English word "horde."

urethra

Ancient Greek · 1600

From Ancient Greek ourēthra, "passage for urine," in use in English since the 1600s.

urge

Latin

From Latin urgēre, "to press or push," the same root behind "urgent."

urgency

Origin

From urgent + -ency.

urgent

Latin

From Latin urgēns, "pressing," from urgēre, "to press" — related to English "urge" and, more distantly, "wring" and "wreck."

urgently

Origin

From urgent + -ly.

Uri

Latin

From Medieval Latin Uronia, possibly from Latin ora (“edge, brim”), or from the pre-Roman substrate hydronym *wer (“water”) + the Latin suffix -n-. More at Uri.

Uriah

Origin

From Biblical Hebrew אוּרִיָּה ('ūriyyā, literally “God is my light”).

Uriel

Ancient Greek

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οὐριήλ (Ouriḗl), from Hebrew אוּרִיאֵל (“God is my light”).

urinal

Latin · 1850

From Latin ūrīnālis, "relating to urine"; the plumbing-fixture sense dates only to the 1850s.

urinary

Origin

From urine + -ary.

urinate

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin urinātus, from urinō, "to urinate," built on the root of "urine."

urination

Origin

From urinate + -ion.

urinator

Origin

From Latin ūrīnātor (“diver”), from ūrīnārī + -tor (suffix forming a (masculine) agent noun). Ūrīnārī is the present active infinitive of ūrīnor (“to plunge under water, dive”), possibly from ūrīna (“urine; water (?)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer- (“to moisten; to flow”).

urine

Latin

From Latin ūrīna, ultimately from a very old Indo-European root related to water and liquid.

URL

English

An initialism of Uniform Resource Locator.

urn

Latin

From Latin urna, "vessel."

urningism

Origin

From urning + -ism.

urologist

Origin

From urology + -ist.

Urquhart

Origin

Probably from Pictish, equivalent to Welsh ar (“on”) + cardden (“enclosure”).

ursid

Origin

See Ursidae.

Ursula

Latin

From Latin Ursula, the name of a fourth century saint. Via Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos cognate with Arcady.

urticate

Origin

From or formed like (post-Classical?) Latin urticatus, from Latin urtīca (“nettle”).

us

Latin

From Old English ūs, the dative/accusative form of "we," going back to a very old Indo-European root shared with Latin nōs and German uns.

usability

Origin

From usable + -ity or use + -ability.

usable

Old French

From Old French usable, from user, "to use."

usage

Old French

From Anglo-Norman and Old French usage, built from use + -age.