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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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unlachrymose
Origin
From un- + lachrymose.
vennel
Origin
Borrowed from French venelle (“alley”).
vulpine
Origin
Borrowed from Latin vulpīnus (“foxy, fox-like”), from vulpēs, earlier volpēs (“fox”), from Proto-Indo-European *wl(o)p- (“fox”). Cognate with Welsh llywarn (“fox”), Ancient Greek ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx), Armenian աղուէս (aġuēs), Albanian dhelpër, Lithuanian vilpišỹs (“wildcat”), Sanskrit लोपाश (lopāśa, “jackal, fox”).
watchword
Origin
From Middle English wacche word, wacchworde, morphologically as watch (“guard, sentinel, sentry”) + word.
unfreedom
Origin
From Middle English unfredom, equivalent to un- + freedom.
vespertide
Origin
From vesper + -tide.
waterstuff
Origin
Compound of water + stuff. Alternative spellings * water-stuff * water stuff
unstrange
Origin
From un- + strange.
vinculum
Origin
From Latin vinculum (“bond, link”), from vinciō (“bind, fetter, tie”) + -ulum.
vibrative
Origin
From vibrate + -ive.
versaillese
Origin
From Versailles + -ese. Doublet of Versaillais.
vainglorious
Origin
From Middle English veinglorious, from Old French vain glorios, from Latin vānus (“empty”) + glōriōsus.
unlinked
Origin
From un- + linked.
wagerer
Origin
From wager + -er.
unget
Origin
From un- + get; compare unbeget, Middle English ungeten (“unbegotten; not won; not captured”).
unrespectable
Origin
From un- + respectable.
vociferance
Origin
From Latin vōciferor (“shout”), from vōx (“voice”) + ferō (“carry”).
visceroception
Origin
From viscero- + -ception.
waldmeister
Origin
From German Waldmeister.
voivodeship
Origin
From voivode (“local ruler or official in parts of central and eastern Europe; administrative chief in Poland”) + -ship (suffix forming nouns indicating properties or states of being). Voivode is variously derived from a number of Slavic languages including Bulgarian войвода (vojvoda), Czech vojevoda, Polish wojewoda, Russian воево́да (vojevóda), and Serbo-Croatian vojvoda, војвода, all from Proto-Slavic *vojevoda (“army leader; duke; warlord”), from *voji (“army”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to chase, pursue; to persecute; to suppress”)) + *-e- + *vodìti (“to conduct; to lead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to lead”)). Sense 3 is a semantic loan from Polish województwo.
unthrifty
Origin
From Middle English unthrifty. By surface analysis, un + thrifty.
unstrain
Origin
From un- + strain.
unsoiled
Origin
From un- + soiled.
wayland
Origin
From Old English Wēland, from Proto-West Germanic *Wēlandu, from Proto-Germanic *Wē₂landuz. Cognate with Old Norse Vǫlundr, Old High German Wēlant.