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 Middle English untien, unteyen, untyȝen, untiȝen, from Old English untīġan (“to untie”), equivalent to un- + tie.

From Old English unġesewen, from un- plus seen.

From Middle English unlikely, from "un-" + "likely."

From Old English unlic, "unlike, dissimilar," from "un-" + "like."

From "un-" + "leash."

From Middle English unkynde, from "un-" + "kind."

From un- + hand.

From Middle English unherthen, formed from un- plus earth.

From Middle English unesy, from un- plus easy; it later merged with the older word uneath, meaning "difficult."

From un- + canny ("knowing, familiar") — literally "beyond what is familiar or knowable." The related noun sense translates Sigmund Freud's German term unheimlich, popularised in his 1919 essay "Das Unheimliche."

From Old English unboren, simply un- + born — it has meant "not yet born" for well over a thousand years.

A shortened form of "typographical error."

From Old English twenġan ("to pinch, squeeze"), an old Germanic verb related to the idea of a sharp pinching sensation.

From Old English twīn ("double thread"), related to the ancient root for "two," since twine is made of threads twisted together.

From Old English twiccian, "to pluck", the same root as "twitch"; the slang sense linked to methamphetamine use developed much later.

From Latin tutela, "a watching over, guardianship", from tueri, "to watch or guard".

A compound of tumble + weed, describing how the dried, ball-shaped plant tumbles across open ground driven by the wind.

Formed from trust plus the suffix -ee, which marks the person on the receiving end of an action (compare "employee").

From Middle French truelle, ultimately from Latin trulla, a diminutive of trua, "ladle."

Built from trouble plus the suffix -some, which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "tending to cause" that thing.

The folklore sense comes from Old Norse trǫll ("giant, demon, sorcerer"); the internet sense grew from an unrelated older meaning of "troll" tied to fishing (trailing a line) and provoking a reaction, and is a doublet of "droll."

From Latin triumphus, "triumphal procession," ultimately from Ancient Greek thriambos — a doublet of "trump."

From Old French tripe ("entrails"), a word of uncertain origin — possibly borrowed from Spanish tripa.

Old English · 1800

From Old English trendan, "to roll about, turn," related to trundle and trindle — the modern sense of a "general direction of change" developed later, in the 19th century.