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 French "plumage", built from "plume" (feather) plus the suffix "-age", denoting a collection.

From comply plus the noun ending -ance.

From French costume, from Italian costume, ultimately from Latin consuetudo, "custom" or "habit." It is a doublet of the words "custom" and "consuetude."

From Latin minus, meaning "less," the neuter form of minor ("smaller").

From back + ground.

From apple + sauce; the exclamation sense developed as early 20th-century American slang for nonsense.

From Middle English squelen, likely from Old Norse skvala, "to squeal or bawl."

From mis- + place.

Origin uncertain; related to the older word "smutch," meaning a smear or stain.

From Middle English probably, probabily, equivalent to probable + -ly.

Possibly from an old dialect word meaning "to sift flour", referring to the plain woven cloth once used for sifting and later for making flags.

From "call" plus the suffix "-ing."

From Italian scopo, "purpose," ultimately from Ancient Greek skopos, "target" — the same root that gives us "skeptic" and "spectrum."

Italian, the feminine form of bravo.

From Middle English uncoveren, from un- + cover.

A compound of "chalk" and "board."

From Middle English contemptible, from Latin contemptibilis.

From wide + the adverb suffix -ly.

From sadist + the adjective suffix -ic.

From Afrikaans trek, from Dutch trekken, "to pull or migrate" — originally describing the long ox-wagon migrations of Boer settlers in South Africa.

From Dutch commanderen ("to command"), reaching English partly through Afrikaans kommandeer during the Boer Wars in the late 1800s.

From Afrikaans kommando, tracing back through Portuguese comando to Latin commendare.

From Spanish peyote, from Nahuatl peyotl.

A very old exclamation shared across the Gaelic and Scots languages, related to similar sighs like "ach" and "ouch" found in other Germanic and Celtic tongues.