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.

Browse etymology by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Recently added

From "stiff" plus the informal "-y" ending.

From Latin explanare, "to flatten, make level, make clear," from ex- ("out") + planare ("to flatten") — related to "plain" and "plane."

From Latin spīritus, "spirit," via Old French spirituel.

From Latin "corōnārius," related to "corōna" ("crown"), since these vessels encircle the heart like a crown.

From Old French passagier, with an extra "n" that crept in the way it did in "messenger."

From Old English rīdere (\"rider, knight\"), formed from ride plus the agent suffix -er.

From Middle English Minotaure, ultimately from the Greek myth of the same creature.

From Middle English develissh, formed from devil plus the adjective-forming suffix -ish.

From any + adverbial genitive of way (compare always).

From French grimoire, a variant of grammaire ("grammar") — in the Middle Ages, any book written in an unfamiliar or learned language could seem like a book of magic to the average reader, so "grammar book" and "magic book" became linked.

From Greek ana- ("back, up") plus gramma ("letter"), by way of French anagramme.

From French triage, "sorting," from trier, "to sort or pick out" — originally used for grading coffee beans before it became standard medical vocabulary.

Tolkien borrowed the name from Old Norse, where it appears in the "Völuspá" poem meaning roughly "wand-elf."

From Medieval Latin verbatim, "word for word," built from Latin verbum ("word").

From Latin insurgens, present participle of insurgere, "to rise up against" — from in- ("against") + surgere ("to rise").

From Old French privé, "private," from Latin privatus — the same root as the modern word "private," of which "privy" is a doublet.

The bird sense comes from Hawaiian ʻōʻō, imitating the bird's call; the letter sense is simply a spelled-out way of writing the long "o" sound of omega.

From Latin possibilitas, related to possibilis ("possible").

Formed from geek plus the adjective suffix -y.

Believed to come from "Lynch law", a term for extrajudicial punishment first recorded in the early 1800s in the United States, possibly linked to the surname Lynch.

From general plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

Coined after Waldo F. Jones, the inventor character in Robert A. Heinlein's 1942 science-fiction story "Waldo," who built remote manipulator arms.

Uncertain origin, possibly linked to the Aboriginal Australian word for "boomerang"; the given name is unrelated to "Kyle" despite the resemblance.