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 late plus -ly.

From Old English clūdig, originally "rocky" or "hilly," from the same root as "cloud."

From Middle English behaven, built from be- plus "have," in the old sense of "to hold or contain oneself."

From Middle English any time, ony tyme, from Old English ǣniġum tīman, equivalent to any + time.

From Old English carlēas, from care + -less ("without").

From Latin retorquere, "to twist back" — the flask was named for its bent neck.

From "compose" + the agent suffix "-er."

From French gauche ("left, awkward"), ultimately traced back to a Frankish word for trampling or walking clumsily — the same idea that gives us "walk."

From Old French sospendre, from Latin suspendere, "to hang up" — from sub- ("under") plus pendere ("to hang").

From Old English tōh, meaning "tenacious" or "sticky, holding fast together" — related to words in German (zäh) and Dutch (taai) that carry the same sense.

From Old French assigner, from Latin assignare, from ad- ("to") plus signare ("to mark, sign").

From Old English gor ("dung, filth"), which over time narrowed to mean specifically clotted blood; the unrelated "triangular piece" sense comes from a different old word for a wedge- or spear-shaped bit of land or cloth.

From "gore" (blood) plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y."

From Middle English graceful, built from grace plus the suffix -ful ("full of").

From Old English Dūnholm, "hill island," which shifted in pronunciation over centuries until it settled as Durham.

From Latin comprehendere, "to grasp," from com- + prehendere ("to seize").

From Old English elm, from a very old Germanic and Indo-European word for the tree.

A translation of the Latin phrase locus communis, itself borrowed from the Ancient Greek koinos topos, both meaning roughly "a shared point" used in classical rhetoric.

From Old French errer, from Latin errāre, "to wander, stray, be mistaken."

From home plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

From French Catherine, from Ancient Greek Aikaterine, of debated origin; associated by folk etymology with Greek katharos, "pure," which gave rise to the "th" spelling.

From Old English stōw ("place, location"), from a very old Germanic and Indo-European root meaning "to stand" or "to put in place".

From purpose plus the adverb suffix -ly.

Formed from be- plus little; the word is credited to Thomas Jefferson, who coined it in 1782.