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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 Middle English wevere, wever, from Old English *wefere, *wifre, *wæfre (“weaver”, in compounds), from Proto-West Germanic *webārī. By surface analysis, weave + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Weeuwer (“weaver”), Dutch wever (“weaver”), German Low German Wever (“weaver”), German Weber (“weaver”), Swedish vävare (“weaver”), Icelandic vefari (“weaver”).

From Latin meditātus, past participle of meditārī ("to reflect upon, consider").

From Latin meditātiō, from meditārī ("to reflect upon, consider").

From Middle French receder and Latin recedere ("to withdraw"), from re- plus cedere ("to go").

From Middle French ignoble, from Latin ignobilis — "not" (in-) + "noble" (nobilis).

From Old French pastor, "shepherd," from Latin pastor — the religious sense grew out of the image of a pastor as a shepherd guiding a flock.

From Old French serf, from Latin servus, "slave, servant."

A straightforward compound of post (mail) and card.

Traces back through Middle English forms like "astony" and "astone" to Old French estoner, "to stun" — the "-ish" ending was likely added later by analogy with words like "abolish" and "banish."

From Latin saliens, "leaping," from saliō, "to leap." The military and geographic sense of "jutting out" and the meaning "notable" both trace back to this image of something springing forward or standing out.

From French bouquet, ultimately from a word for "grove" or "thicket" — a small cluster of plants.

From Greek Aramaikos, based on the name of the region of Aram.

From Old French païsant ("countryman"), from païs ("country, region"), ultimately from Latin pāgus ("rural district") — the same root as "pagan".

From Latin octavus, "eighth" — the same root that gives us "October" and "octet".

Borrowed from French coopération, from Late Latin cooperatio, built the same way as cooperate — from co- ("together") and operari ("to work").

An initialism of "do it yourself".

From Greek pugmaios, related to pugme ("fist"), originally describing a legendary race said to be as tall as a fist.

From Old English henep, tracing back to Proto-Germanic hanapiz — the same root that eventually gave English the word "canvas".

A noun formed from the phrasal verb "black out".

From Sanskrit mantra, related to a root meaning "to think" — the same root that gives English "mind."

From Old French corset, a diminutive of cors, "body" — ultimately from Latin corpus.

From Middle French ponton, from Latin pontō, "ferryboat," from pōns, "bridge."

The drug-related sense arose in mid-20th-century American slang, possibly from the older phrase "stone drunk."

The currency sense comes from Japanese en ("round object"), via Chinese yinyuan ("round silver piece"). The "craving" sense is unrelated, tracing instead to an old slang word for a craving for opium.