Etymology — The Origins of English Words

fungal

Origin

From "fungus" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-al."

fro

Old Norse

From Old Norse frá ("from"); a close relative of the word "from" that survived mainly in the set phrase "to and fro".

fray

Latin

The verb comes from Old French fraier, "to rub," from Latin fricare, "to rub." The noun sense (a fight) developed from the same root via the idea of clashing or rubbing against each other.

foss

Old Norse

From Old Norse fors ("waterfall"), by way of Icelandic or Norwegian.

focal

New Latin

From New Latin focalis, built on Latin focus ("hearth, fire") plus the adjective ending "-al."

fob

Germanic

Probably from an old Germanic word for "pocket," related to Swedish ficka and German dialect forms.

fletch

Origin

A reworking of the older word fledge ("to grow feathers"), influenced by fletcher ("arrow-maker").

flax

Old English

From Old English fleax, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to plait."

flange

Origin

From dialectal English flange/flanch, "a projection," ultimately related to flank.

flam

Origin

Comes from the older word "flim-flam," meaning a deceptive trick or nonsense talk.

fjord

Old Norse

Borrowed from Norwegian fjord, from Old Norse fjorðr, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "a crossing" — related to "ford" and "firth."

fife

German

Borrowed from German Pfeife, "pipe" or "whistle" — a distant relative of the English word "pipe."

fief

Medieval Latin

From Old French fief, from Medieval Latin feudum — the same root that gives us "fee" and "feudal."

fib

Origin

Origin unclear, but likely a shortened form of "fable," possibly influenced by the old expression fible-fable meaning "nonsense."

fete

French

From French fête ("feast, celebration"); a doublet of feast and fiesta.

fetal

Origin

From fetus plus the adjective ending -al.

fedora

Origin · 1882

Named after the heroine Fédora in an 1882 play by Victorien Sardou, who wore this style of hat on stage.

fay

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English feyen, feien, from Old English fēġan (“to join, unite”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōgijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōgijaną (“to join”), from *fōgō (“joint, slot”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Akin to Saterland Frisian fougje (“to join, add”), West Frisian foegje (“to join, add”), Dutch voegen (“to add, place”), German Low German fögen (“to join, add”), German fügen (“to connect”), Old English fōn (“to catch”). More at fang.

faro

Old French

Probably an altered form of "pharaoh" — the King of Hearts on some old French playing cards was called Pharaon.

exude

Latin

From Latin exsudare, "to sweat out" — from ex- ("out") + sudare ("to sweat").

exhume

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin exhumare, from ex- ("out of") plus humus ("ground, earth") — literally "to bring out of the ground."

escrow

Old French

From Old French escroe, "a scrap or strip of parchment" (used for the document recording the agreement), related to the word "shred."

eros

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek erōs, "love, desire."

erode

Latin

From French éroder, from Latin ērōdere, "to gnaw away."