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 Late Latin clericus, ultimately from Greek klerikos, "of the clergy," related to kleros, "a lot" (as in casting lots), since clergy were originally chosen this way.

From industrialize plus -ed.

From Old English pyf, "a blast of wind," of imitative (sound-based) origin.

From Old English fetian, "to bring or fetch," the same root that eventually gave modern English "fetch."

From in- + exhaustible, from exhaust, ultimately from Latin exhaurire, "to drain out."

Built from "fright" plus "-ful" ("full of"), so literally "full of fright" — though today it more often just means "very bad".

From Middle English rejoynen, partly from Middle French rejoin- (stem of rejoindre, from re- (“again”) + joindre (“to join”)) and partly from re- + joynen. By surface analysis, re- + join. Doublet of rejoinder.

From Middle English, combining twi- ("two, half") with light — literally "half-light," referring to the dim glow between day and night.

From Old French remembrance, from remembrer ("to remember").

From Old English rihtlīċe, formed from right plus -ly.

From Old English bealdlīċe, simply bold plus the adverb ending -ly.

From grave (adjective) + -ly.

From "heart" plus the adjective suffix "-y" — originally meaning full of heart, i.e. vigorous and sincere.

A compound of "door" and "way."

From Middle English sadly; equivalent to sad + -ly.

From Latin sublīmis, "elevated, lofty" — from sub- ("up to") plus a root meaning roughly "raised."

From Old French "hideus," ultimately from a word meaning "horror" or "fear" — the word originally carried a sense of something terrifying rather than merely unattractive.

From Old French prudent, from Latin prudens, a contraction of providens, "foreseeing" — related to providence.

From Latin recollectus, past participle of recolligere ("to gather again"), from re- plus colligere ("to collect").

From Middle English disagreable, from Old French desagraable, built on dis- + agreeable.

From steam + the agent suffix -er.

Simply calm plus the adverb ending -ly.

From part + -ing.

From Old English glædlice, formed from glæd ("glad") plus the adverbial ending -lice.