English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Etymology — The origins of English words

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

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From Old High German kuoni ("bold") and rad ("counsel").

From Late Latin reflexus ("a bending back"), from reflectere ("to bend back").

From figurative plus -ly.

From an earlier form "sea-bord," from sea + board (in the sense of "side" or "edge").

From Middle English scavager, originally referring to a tax collector or inspector of goods, later reinterpreted as coming from "scavenge" plus "-er."

From Late Latin saturatio, from saturare, "to fill" or "to satisfy," the same root behind "saturated."

From Middle English Jesu, from the vocative (and genitive, etc) form Jēsū of Latin Jēsūs, and also reflective of the vocative (and genitive, etc) form Ἰησοῦ (Iēsoû) of Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs). Gradually displaced as the normal form by Jesus in the Middle English and Early Modern English period, but retained or restored especially in a few religious texts on the model of Latin and Greek.

Directly from Latin veritas, "truth," from verus ("true").

From the Shawnee people's own name for themselves, related to a word meaning roughly "southerners."

From fame plus the ending -ed.

Likely a variant of an old British dialect word for a small enclosed field, ultimately related to "park."

From Latin replicatio, built on replicare ("to fold back, repeat") — related to "reply" and "replicate."

From candidate + the noun-forming suffix -cy.

From dip + -ed.

disproportionate

From dis- + proportionate, marking the opposite of being in proportion.

degrade + -ed. See degrade and compare French degré (“step”).

Inherited from Middle English whistlynge, equivalent to whistle + -ing.

Originally an anatomical term for the tendons imagined to hold the heart in place; it later became a poetic way to describe deep emotion, as in "tugging at the heartstrings."

From Latin magnificare, "to make great", from magnificus, "doing great things".

From Hebrew Yo'el, combining Yah and El, both names for God.

From Old English unwitende, from un- (\"not\") plus witting (\"knowing\").

From talent plus the suffix -less, meaning "without."

From hormone + -al.

From Old French chaungeable, from Late Latin cambiare ("to change") plus the suffix -able.