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 German clipping of Nationalsozialist ("National Socialist"), first used around 1930; the coincidental resemblance to "Nazi" as an old nickname for the name Ignaz may have made the abbreviation stick as an insult.

Likely a variant of "moppet," an old word for a small child or darling; it later became strongly associated with Jim Henson's puppet characters and picked up the slang sense of "silly person."

From Spanish moro ("Moor"), applied by Spanish colonizers to Muslim Filipinos; the same root as the English word "Moor."

Borrowed from Spanish Moreno.

Borrowed from Latin mōns (“mountain”). Doublet of mount.

Borrowed from Classical Mongolian mongɣol, the people's own name for themselves.

From mills, in reference to mill owners and mill workers.

From Latin mensa, meaning "table" — the same word used for the flat table-like altar top and, by extension, for flat-topped landforms.

The name of the village and county in Ireland is from Irish Maigh Eo (“plain of yew trees”).

From Latin mātrix, "breeding animal, womb," from māter, "mother" — the idea of a structure that other things grow or are formed within. The science-fiction sense was popularized by the 1999 film The Matrix.

From Latin "Mars," the Roman war god, ultimately from the older Old Latin form "Mavors."

The city name traces to Akkadian, linked to Mer, an ancient Mesopotamian storm deity; the ethnic/language sense is unrelated, native to the Mari people's own name for themselves.

From an Algonquian place name recorded by Dutch settlers, likely meaning something like "the place for gathering wood to make bows."

From "Malta" plus the suffix "-ese," as in Chinese or Japanese.

The surname is from a Middle English diminutive of the given name Mary.

From Malay plus the suffix -ia, a Latinization; compare "Malaysia."

As an English surname, a variant of Mayes; as a German surname, derived from Middle High German meiz, "cleared land."

Orthographic borrowing from the romanized form of Japanese マイ (mai), in turn a borrowing from English my, which it is treated as an alternate form of.

From Latin magnus ("great"), originally a title of Charlemagne, later adopted as a personal name by medieval Scottish and Scandinavian royalty.

From Latin magi, plural of magus, from Greek mágos, originally referring to Zoroastrian priest-astrologers of ancient Persia.

From Portuguese madeira, meaning "wood" — the island was named for its dense forests when discovered.

Scottish Gaelic

Named after the McIntosh apple, itself named after the Scottish surname McIntosh, from Scottish Gaelic meaning "son of the chief."

Clipping of mackintosh.

A variant spelling of Lynn.