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 an ekename ("an additional name"), which was misheard and re-divided as "a nekename" — the same kind of slip that gave us "an apron" from "a napron".

From Old English brȳsan, "to crush", blended with a related Old French word for breaking or smashing something.

From "blue" + "-ish."

From Anglo-Norman legal French gist ("[the case] lies/rests"), from Old French gesir ("to lie"), ultimately from Latin iacere ("to lie down").

From Middle English bynne, from Old English binn ("crib, manger"), possibly borrowed from a Celtic word for a cart or basket.

From Old English blǣst, meaning "a blowing" or "gust," related to the verb "blow."

From Old French tabour, tracing back through Arabic and Persian words for a type of drum; a relative of "tambour" and "tambourine."

From Middle English rakke/rekke, related to Middle Dutch words for a framework, going back to a root meaning "to stretch out".

From an older sense of "grate" meaning pleasing or agreeable, from Latin grātus ("pleasing, thankful") + -ful.

From French gratitude, from Medieval Latin grātitūdō ("thankfulness"), from Latin grātus ("thankful").

Originally a sailing term: from lee ("the sheltered side away from the wind") plus way, describing how far a ship drifted sideways off course.

Sanskrit · 1800

From Sanskrit ā́rya ("noble"). Borrowed into English in the 1800s as a linguistic term, then hijacked in the 19th–20th centuries by race theorists — most infamously the Nazis — to invent a supposed racial hierarchy that has no basis in the word's actual history.

From Latin dubius, related to duo ("two") — the idea of being torn between two possibilities.

From Latin immutabilis, "unchangeable" (im- + mutable).

From Middle French malignant, ultimately from Late Latin malignans — related to "malign."

Two main origins: * Borrowed from Persian باز (bâz, “falcon”). * Borrowed from Spanish Baz.

From Latin formatio, "a shaping," from formare, "to form" — the same root behind "format" and "formula."

From Italian fresco, meaning "fresh," referring to painting onto freshly laid, still-damp plaster. It shares its ultimate root with the English words "fresh" and "frisk."

From Latin mitigare, "to soften or make gentle," from mitis, "mild."

From French millionnaire, formed from million plus the suffix "-aire" (as in "billionaire").

Formed from billion plus the suffix -aire, modeled on millionaire.

From Old French resolver, ultimately from Latin resolvere, "to loosen, resolve" — the same root as "solve".

From Latin solvō, "to loosen, unbind" — the sense shifted to "work out an answer".

From Yiddish yarmlke, itself from Polish jarmułka, ultimately traced back to a Turkic word related to headgear.