Etymology — The origins of English words

entrust

Origin

Formed from "en-" plus "trust."

subtlety

Latin

From Old French sutilté, from Latin subtilitas, from subtilis ("subtle").

Erik

Origin

A spelling variant of Eric, or directly borrowed from modern Swedish Erik.

tribute

Latin

From Latin tributum, "a thing paid or contributed," from tribuere, "to assign or grant," itself related to tribus, "tribe."

trig

Old Norse

From Old Norse tryggr ("loyal, true"), related to the English word true.

Yangtze

Chinese

An irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 揚子 /扬子 (Yángzǐ) and 揚子江 /扬子江 (Yángzǐ Jiāng), a former name for the lower stretches of the Yangtze derived from 揚子津 (Yángzǐjīn)(zh-wikipedia), a former ferry crossing near Yangzhou, applied by foreign visitors to the entire length of the river. The folk etymology that it means "Son of the Ocean" derives from the homophonic misnomer 洋子江 which was apparently given to Matteo Ricci, whose posthumously published journals popularized the river in Europe as Latin Iansu and Iansuchian.

Oder

German

From German Oder.

Hudson

Origin

From Hudd + -son. Doublet of Hutson.

creeper

Old English

From Old English creopere, formed from creep + -er — "one that creeps".

destitute

Latin

From Latin destitutus, past participle of destituere, "to abandon or forsake".

footstep

Old English

From Old English roots meaning "foot" and "step."

brodie

Origin · 1800

The "friend" sense comes from "bro"/"broski," a shortening of brother; the "risky leap" sense is said to nod to Steve Brodie, a 19th-century New Yorker who claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and survived.

Bogdan

Greek

From Proto-Slavic Bogъdanъ, a calque of the Greek name Theodore, literally "gift of God."

fitness

Origin · 1900

From "fit" plus "-ness"; the physical exercise sense only became common in the 20th century.

voicemail

Origin

A blend of voice and mail, originally a trademarked product name that became a generic term.

ain

Middle English

From Older Scots and Middle English aȝen, related to "own."

prominence

Latin

From obsolete French prominence, from Latin prominentia.

Rubicon

Origin

From the Rubicon, a small river in northern Italy that Julius Caesar crossed with his army in 49 BCE, an act that made civil war against Rome inevitable — giving us the phrase "crossing the Rubicon."

reformation

Latin · 1500

From Latin reformatio, from reformare ("to reshape"). Historically capitalized when referring to the 16th-century religious movement.

Mekong

Origin

From Thai, a contraction of a phrase meaning "mother river."

sharpshooter

German

A loan translation (calque) of the German Scharfschütze, "sharp shooter."

Pericles

Latin

From Latin Periclēs, from Ancient Greek Περικλῆς (Periklês, “far-famed”), from περί (perí, “around”) + κλέος (kléos, “glory”).

deejay

Origin

A spelled-out pronunciation of the abbreviation "DJ."

hearsay

Origin

From the old phrase "to hear [people] say," compressed over time into the single word hearsay.