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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A compound of "mine" (explosive device) and "field," originally military terminology for ground seeded with landmines.

Originally a surveyor’s mark cut into stone to hold measuring equipment steady; the figurative "standard of comparison" sense developed later, around the 1880s.

An acronym for "floating-point operations per second."

From Medieval Latin filamentum, built on Latin filum meaning "thread."

Named after the Bronx, one of New York City's five boroughs, itself named for early Dutch settler Jonas Bronck.

From Latin ingeniosus, "gifted with genius," from ingenium, "natural talent."

From Old French nobilité, from Latin nobilitas, built on "noble" plus "-ity."

From "resource" plus "-ful".

From French sociable, from Latin sociabilis, related to socius ("companion").

From "wheel" plus "house" — originally the housing around a ship's steering wheel; the figurative sense (baseball, then general use) comes from the idea of a batter's favorite pitch zone.

From "module" plus the adjective suffix "-ar."

From pen + knife — originally a small knife used to sharpen (cut a "nib" into) quill pens.

Originally an enclosure for holding bulls; the baseball sense borrows the image of penned-in animals waiting to be let loose.

From Late Latin testimonialis, "relating to testimony", from testimonium, "testimony" — ultimately from testis, "a witness".

From Old French testifier, from Latin testificari, "to bear witness", built from testis ("a witness") and facere ("to make").

From Old French testre, "a canopy", ultimately from Latin testura. The modern sense of "someone who tests things" is simply "test" plus the agent suffix "-er".

Formed from terror plus the verb-forming suffix -ize, following the same pattern as words like "organize" or "modernize".

From Late Latin territorialis, from Latin territorium, "territory."

From French terrasse, from Old Occitan terrassa, from terra, "land."

From tub + -y, describing someone shaped a bit like a barrel. It looks related to "chubby" but the resemblance is coincidental — the two words developed separately.

From Middle English tubbe, tobbe, from Middle Dutch tubbe or Middle Low German tubbe, tobbe, further etymology unknown. Considered to be unrelated to tube.

Borrowed from German Schiff, "ship."

Borrowed from French Stéphanie, itself from the Greek stephanos, "crown."

Named after Bourbon County, Kentucky, itself named for the French royal House of Bourbon.