Etymology — The origins of English words

hyper

Origin

A shortened, everyday form of words built from the prefix "hyper-" (meaning "over" or "excessive"), most commonly standing in for "hyperactive."

hydrochloric

Origin

Built from "hydro-" (hydrogen) plus "chloric," reflecting the acid's composition of hydrogen and chlorine.

halitosis

Latin · 1874

Coined in 1874 from Latin halitus ("breath") plus the Greek-derived medical suffix denoting a condition or disease.

ethos

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek êthos (\"character, custom, habit\").

edema

New Latin

From Greek oidēma ("swelling"), via New Latin oedema — related to oidein, "to swell."

ecstasy

Greek

From Greek ékstasis, "displacement" or "trance," from existēmi — ek- ("out") plus histēmi ("to stand") — the sense of being so overcome with feeling that you're "standing outside" yourself.

dysentery

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek dusentería, combining dus- ("bad") and éntera ("bowels").

dogma

Greek

From Greek dogma, "opinion, tenet," from a verb meaning "to seem good, to think."

diploma

Latin

From Latin diplōma, from Greek díplōma meaning "folded paper" or "official document," itself from a word meaning "to fold."

diabolical

Greek

From diabolic + -al, ultimately from Greek diabolos ("slanderer, devil").

gymnastics

Greek

From Greek gymnastikos, related to gymnastes ("athlete"), from gymnos ("naked").

gloss

Germanic

Possibly from a Scandinavian word for a spark or flame, related to a Germanic root meaning "to glow" — the shiny sense and the "explanatory note" sense may actually come from two different, unrelated old words that merged in English.

genesis

Greek

From Greek génesis ("origin, beginning"), related to gígnomai ("to be born, come into being").

barometer

Greek · 1665

Coined in 1665 by the scientist Robert Boyle from Greek roots meaning "weight" and "measure," to name the instrument Torricelli had invented about twenty years earlier.

Barbara

Latin

From Latin Barbara, feminine of barbarus, from Greek barbaros ("foreign, strange") — the same root behind the modern word "barbarian."

spiel

German

Borrowed from German Spiel, meaning "game" or "performance."

shtick

Yiddish

Borrowed from Yiddish shtik, meaning "a piece" or "an act."

schmooze

Hebrew

From Yiddish shmues ("talk, chat"), from Hebrew shemu'ot ("rumors, news").

lox

Yiddish

Borrowed from Yiddish "laks," meaning salmon — closely related to the English word "lax," an older word for the same fish.

klutz

Yiddish

From Yiddish klots, literally "wooden beam" or "block," used figuratively for a clumsy or slow-witted person. It's a close relative of the English words "clot" and "clod."

chutzpah

Aramaic

Borrowed from Yiddish khutspe, ultimately from an Aramaic word meaning "audacity" or "boldness".

bris

Hebrew

From Yiddish, ultimately from Hebrew brit, meaning "covenant" — the ceremony marks the covenant between God and the Jewish people.

symphony

Greek

From Greek symphonia, "harmony of sound," from syn- ("together") + phone ("sound, voice").

symbiosis

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek symbiosis, "living together," from syn- ("with") + bios ("life").