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 Old English "dagas," the plural of "dæg" ("day"), going back to Proto-Germanic "*dagaz."

From Old French forfait ("crime"), from forfaire ("to transgress"). The meaning shifted over time from the crime itself to the penalty for it.

From in- + experienced, from experience.

From French déplorable, from Late Latin deplorabilis, related to "deplore."

From Middle English conteyner — contain + the agent suffix -er.

From Latin distortum, the past participle of distorquēre, "to twist" or "to torture" — combining dis- ("apart") with torquēre ("to twist"), the same root that gives us torque and torture.

From Old French blanc, "white," via Middle English — the sense shifted from "white/pale" to "empty" over time.

A blend of "pic(ture)" and "element" — first used in the 1960s.

A clipped form of Declan; the abbreviation sense comes from clipping "declared".

From Latin vertere, "to turn", by way of Medieval Latin versio — the idea of "turning" a text from one language into another, or "turning" facts into an account.

From Middle English fonned, "made foolish" — fond originally meant simple-minded or doting before it softened to mean affectionate.

The earliest sense referred to a chest or box used as a seat, from Scots bunker, ultimately from Old Norse bunki ("a heap"); the "bomb shelter" sense was borrowed from German Bunker during World War II.

From Italian rilievo, "raised work," from rilevare, "to raise," ultimately from Latin relevare.

Borrowed into English from Korean 전 (jeon), the name of the same subunit.

First use appears c. 1665 in a letter by the Earl of Argyll. From Scottish randy (“boisterous, aggressive”), of uncertain origin. Probably from rand (“to storm, rave”, verb), a variant of rant, see rant; or from rand (“edge”, noun), in the sense of "edgy, on edge", from Middle English rand (“edge, brink, margin, border”), from Old English rand (“edge, border, margin, rim”). Related to randan.

Borrowed from Russian sovet ("council"), from Old Church Slavonic sŭvětŭ ("advice, agreement").

Formed from collaborate plus the adjective ending -ive.

From Classical Persian گُل (gul, "flower").

A shortening of "situation comedy."

Imitative of the sound itself — the word mimics the noise it describes.

From Old English hungor, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "hunger," ultimately traced to an Indo-European root for burning or yearning.

From Old English steall, meaning "standing place" or "position," related to German Stall.

A learned borrowing from Latin mamma ("breast").

From Nemesis, the Greek goddess who punished human arrogance and wrongdoing with fitting retribution.