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 French desfiance, from desfier, ultimately built on the same root as "defy."

From Old English clympre, meaning a lump of metal, related to Germanic words for a mass or lump.

First recorded in the 1500s in forms like scondrel; its ultimate origin is unclear, though it may be linked to an old northern English or Scots word meaning to shrink back in fear or disgust.

From Latin sector, "cutter," from secare, "to cut" — the same root behind "section" and "dissect."

From Latin mutatio, "a changing," via Old French mutacion.

From Latin morbidus, "diseased," from morbus, "sickness," ultimately related to the root for "to die."

A straightforward compound of "wash" and "cloth."

From Latin conglomeratus, past participle of conglomerare, "to roll together into a ball" — from con- + glomus ("ball of thread").

Old English · 1500

From Old English ǣg ("egg"), the native English ancestor of "egg" — the word was eventually replaced by the Old Norse-derived "egg" around the 16th century.

Shortened from Japanese barazoku ("rose tribe"), the name of a pioneering Japanese gay men's magazine, itself borrowing "rose" as a coded term for gay men in postwar Japan.

Thought to come from Troyes, a French market town whose local weight standard spread across medieval European trade.

Related to the word for "mother" across several South Asian languages, including Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu.

From Old French treille, "arbor," ultimately from Latin trichila, "summer house."

From drill + -ing.

From authentic plus the suffix -ity.

From Old French foresterie, from forest.

From Old French statut, from Late Latin statutum, "a thing decided" — from statuere, "to set up or establish."

From French intolérant or Latin intolerans, from in- ("not") plus tolerans ("tolerant").

From catastrophe plus the adjective suffix -ic.

From German Stahl, meaning "steel."

From Ancient Greek sêpsis, "putrefaction," from sḗpō, "to make rotten."

From Hindustani huqqā, ultimately from Arabic ḥuqqa, meaning "pot" or "jar."

From "hearty" plus the adverb-forming "-ly" — going back to an Old English word meaning "whole-heartedly."

From happy plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.