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 psychiatry plus the adjective suffix -ic.

Thought to come from guiser, an old word for someone in disguise or costume, as in a mummer or masquerader.

A partial translation of German Leberwurst, "liver sausage."

From Old French unisson, ultimately from Latin unus ("one") + sonus ("sound") — literally "one sound".

Traced through Middle English gaudi, ultimately from Latin gaudia ("joys"), tied to the idea of ornaments or trinkets. It is not related to the architect Antoni Gaudí — despite a common myth, the word predates him by centuries.

From Old English þicnes, formed from thick + the noun-forming suffix -ness.

From Middle English bikeren, "to attack," traced back through Middle Dutch bicken, "to stab or thrust," to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to smash or break" — a much more violent origin than today's meaning of petty squabbling.

From Latin dissensio, from dissentire, "to disagree."

A 1930s coinage, likely a variant of "goo," alongside similar sound-alike words like "gloop" and "glob."

From disgrace plus the suffix -ful, meaning "full of disgrace."

A straightforward compound of junk and yard.

Thought to be imitative of a fiddle's sound, possibly influenced by "wheedle".

Borrowed from Polish Kowalski.

From Middle English words for "heart" and "burn" — the sensation sits near where the heart is, even though it's actually caused by stomach acid.

From Old French dispenser, from Latin dispensare, "to weigh out, distribute, manage" — from dis- ("apart") + pendere ("to weigh").

From lobe + -otomy, a suffix meaning "a cutting into", as in "tonsillotomy".

From Old French restitucion, from Latin restitutio, "a restoring," from restituere ("to restore").

From "tight" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

A slangy shortening of "communist" with the diminutive suffix -ie.

From "panic" + the past-tense ending "-ed."

Probably a variant of gang, from Middle English gangen, from Old English gangan (“to step; walk; go”).

A combination of "panty" and "hose."

From Latin implacabilis, from im- ("not") + placabilis ("able to be appeased").

A back-formation from implosion, itself modelled on explosion.