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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 Latin īris, from Ancient Greek ἶρις (îris, "rainbow") — the eye and flower senses both nod to the range of colours involved.

From Latin ingerere, "to carry in."

From Medieval Latin impalare, from Latin palus, "stake" — the same root as pale (a fence post).

From Greek eidolon, "image" or "phantom," from eidos, "form" — the same root that gives us "idea."

From Late Latin iconicus, going back to Ancient Greek eikōn ("image"); related to "icon".

From Latin ibis, from Greek ibis, ultimately from an ancient Egyptian word for the bird.

From Greek humen, meaning "skin" or "membrane," via Late Latin and Middle French.

From Old English hyrst, meaning a wooded hill or thicket — the same root shows up at the end of many English place names, like Amherst and Sandhurst.

Originally Scottish, of uncertain but likely Germanic origin, related to Old Norse huka, "to crouch."

From Old English hīew, meaning "appearance" or "color" — related to old Germanic and Indo-European words for the color or texture of skin.

Unknown. Perhaps a variant of chuck or hoick.

From Ancient Greek hubris, originally meaning "insolence" or an outrageous act of pride against the gods — famously the downfall of many tragic heroes.

Of uncertain origin, related to an old dialect word "hob"; possibly linked to a Germanic root meaning "bump" or "hill."

Borrowed from German Heu or Dutch gooi.

An old past-tense form of "heave," now surviving mainly in nautical phrases like "hove into view" and "hove to."

From hoop plus the agent suffix -er, originally naming a craftsman who fitted hoops onto barrels.

From Old English hān ("stone"), related to Proto-Germanic and ultimately Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "to sharpen".

From Old English holt, "wood, forest," an old Germanic word for timber or woodland — the same root survives in German Holz ("wood").

From Old English holm ("sea, islet") and Old Norse holmr ("islet"), both from an ancient Germanic word for raised or rising ground.

Borrowed from the Navajo word hooghan, meaning "dwelling" or "house."

The "pawn" sense traces to a clipping of "hockamore", itself from German; the wine sense comes from Hochheim, a German wine-producing town.

Origin uncertain; one popular theory links it to Hog Island, a Philadelphia shipyard where Italian immigrant workers were said to have made these sandwiches for their lunch.

From Pennsylvania German "hexe" (to practise witchcraft), borrowed from German "hexen," related to "Hexe" (witch). It shares a root with the English word "hag."

From Polish hetman, ultimately tracing back to a Germanic word related to modern German Hauptmann ("captain"). It is a doublet of the English phrase "head man."