Etymology — The origins of English words

From Middle English, ultimately related to "hide" — the original sense was closer to crowding together in a hiding place.

From Old English hulc, referring to a clumsy or heavy ship, itself possibly borrowed from Greek by way of Latin.

An alteration of the older word fillip, describing a snap of the fingers or thumb.

An imitative word from the 1910s–40s, echoing the sound of meaningless chatter.

From post (in the sense of a notice fixed up in public) plus the agent suffix -er, meaning 'a thing or person that posts.'

From Latin bilinguis, from bi- ("two") + lingua ("tongue, language").

From Old English sceamol ("bench, stool"), which came to mean a butcher's bench, then a slaughterhouse, then a scene of disorder or carnage.

An 18th-century softened stand-in for "God," likely shortened from an oath like "God's body."

By surface analysis, cruise + -ing.

From Old French "jalous," ultimately from Greek "zêlos" meaning zeal or fervent devotion — jealous and zealous share the same root.

From Old English sceaft, going back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning a pole or spear-shaft.

From "cruise" plus "-er."

From wind + screen.

A compound of window + sill.

Borrowed from French chimiste, from Medieval Latin chimista, going back through alchimista to Arabic al-kīmiyāʔ.

A straightforward compound of wind + mill; the phrase "tilting at windmills" (fighting imaginary enemies) comes from Don Quixote, who attacked windmills believing them to be giants.

The noun is derived from Middle English winding, windinge, wyndynge (“act of exposing something to the wind, airing, ventilating; act of winnowing (?)”), from winden, wynden (“to expose (something) to the air or wind, ventilate; to cause (someone) to be out of breath; to winnow (wheat); of an animal: to catch the scent of (someone or something)”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming gerund nouns, and the present participle forms of verbs). The adjective is derived from the verb. The English word is analysable as wind (“to blow air through (a wind instrument or horn) to make a sound; to cause (someone) to become breathless; to winnow (food grain), etc.”) + -ing (suffix forming present participial adjectives and verbs, and nouns denoting an action or the embodiment of an action).

A straightforward combination of will and power, coined to describe the strength of one's will.

A straightforward compound of school and boy.

From willing + the noun-forming ending -ness.

From Middle English willyngly, built from willing + the adverb ending -ly.

A compound of school and girl.

From Old English wilde fȳr, literally "wild fire," originally also referring to a fierce ancient incendiary weapon.

From Old English roots meaning "place of wild animals," ultimately combining "wild" with an old word for "beast."