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 French vilein ("peasant, farmhand"), from Late Latin vīllānus, someone tied to working a country estate (villa). Its meaning shifted over centuries from simply "peasant" to "wicked person," as the upper classes came to see country folk as coarse or untrustworthy.

From Old French mescreant, "disbeliever," from mes- + creire ("to believe"); it originally meant someone with the wrong religious faith before shifting to mean a wrongdoer generally.

From un- + civilized.

From Spanish "nevada," meaning "snow-covered," referring to the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Borrowed from an Ojibwe word meaning "great river."

From a French rendering of a Native American word referring to people who used dugout canoes.

From the Ojibwe word mishigami, meaning "great water" or "giant lake," originally referring to Lake Michigan.

Named after Henrietta Maria of France, wife of England's King Charles I.

From the Massachusett language, meaning roughly "at the great hill," referring to the Blue Hills near Boston.

A shortened form of Middle English "remenant," from Anglo-Norman remanant, related to remain.

From Old English healtian, "to limp" — the sense narrowed over time to mean simply "to stop."

From Old French officier, from Latin officium, "office, duty" — literally, someone who carries out an office.

From Latin essentia, "being" or "the state of existing," built from esse, "to be" — coined to translate an ancient Greek philosophical term for the true nature of a thing.

From Middle French "transaction," ultimately from Late Latin "transactio," built from "trans-" plus "action."

From French Illinois, adapted from an Algonquian name (often traced to Miami ilenweewa, "he speaks the ordinary way"). The U.S. state took its name from the same source.

Named after the U.S. state, whose own name has an uncertain origin despite various popular but unproven stories.

From French Aiouez, an early spelling of the tribal name, itself borrowed from a Dakota word meaning roughly "the sleepy ones."

The American spelling of "amphitheatre", built from Greek amphi- ("on both sides") plus theatron ("place for viewing").

From French sombre, "dark", possibly from Latin sub- ("under") + umbra ("shade").

Named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an early colonial governor of Virginia; the river, the Lenape people, and the state all take their name from his title.

From a Mohegan-Pequot word, quinnitukqut, meaning "at the long tidal river."

From Spanish colorado, meaning "reddish" or "colored," originally describing the reddish, silt-heavy water of the Colorado River.

From French Arcansas, referring to a Siouan people (likely ancestors of the Quapaw) living along the river.

From bogey plus the suffix -man.