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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Probably from Spanish or Portuguese alcatraz ("pelican" or "gannet"), altered under the influence of Latin albus ("white"). The "burden" meaning comes from Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," in which a sailor is forced to wear a dead albatross around his neck as punishment.

Borrowed from French, ultimately from a Swedish name for the fish.

Ottoman Turkish

Borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish word for "room" or "chamber".

From Old Norse leita ("to seek, search"), surviving mainly in northern English and Scots dialect.

Borrowed directly from Latin dexter, "right, right-handed."

Multiple unrelated origins: the interjection is a dialect shortening of "come on"; the crest sense comes from Japanese 文 (mon).

A dialectal variant of "we"/"with," shaped by regional pronunciation.

From Old French ajourner, from the phrase a jour (nomé), "to a (named) day" — the idea of setting a new date to continue.

From Latin tranquillus, from trans- + a root related to quiēs ("rest, peace"), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to rest."

From Greek synagoge, "assembly, gathering," from syn- ("together") + agein ("to lead").

From re-, "again," plus place.

As a surname, from the German, Danish, and Norwegian word for "summer"; as a slang interjection, an unrelated playful coinage.

Borrowed via Latin Dionysus from the Greek Dionȳsos.

A learned borrowing from Greek khrónos (\"time\"), also the name of the personification of time in Greek myth.

From Old French carpentier, ultimately from Latin carpentarius, "maker of a carriage or cart" — the word originally meant a builder of wagons before it narrowed to mean a general woodworker.

Formed from bike plus the suffix -er.

From prompt plus the agent suffix -er.

From prompt plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

From Latin prōmptus ("visible, ready"), past participle of prōmō ("to bring forth"), from pro- ("forth") plus emō ("to take, buy"). A doublet of pronto.

Derived from the biblical city of Sodom, described in Genesis as destroyed for its inhabitants' wickedness.

Formed from optimist plus the adjective ending -ic.

Named after Clio, the Ancient Greek muse of history, from whom both the award and the Renault car model borrow their name.

Named after Calliope, the Greek muse of epic poetry, from kalos ("beautiful") and ops ("voice").

From Biblical Hebrew Yehuda; a doublet of the name Judas.