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 non- ("not") plus descript, from Latin descriptus ("described").

From French inepte, from Latin ineptus, "not fitting" — in- + aptus, the same root that gives English apt.

From Middle English chewynge, chewand, from Old English *ċēowende, from Proto-Germanic *kewwandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *kewwaną (“to chew”), equivalent to chew + -ing.

From Dutch doop, a thick dipping sauce, related to a verb meaning "to dip." The drug sense grew from thick, sticky opium paste; the "cool" slang sense is a later 20th-century development.

From Old French mace, ultimately from Vulgar Latin roots meaning a crushing or cutting tool.

From Middle English offal, literally "off-fall" — the parts that "fall off" when an animal is butchered.

From pot (marijuana) plus -head, a suffix used for describing someone strongly associated with a thing or habit.

From Old French gibelet, a stew made from game birds.

From Middle French conservatif, from Latin conservare, "to preserve" — built from conserve plus -ative.

From Latin positivus, related to ponere ("to place"), originally meaning "formally laid down" before it took on its modern sense of "affirmative."

From Latin prīncipium, "beginning, foundation," from prīnceps ("first, chief").

The ethnic name comes from Zazaki, the group's own language, though its ultimate origin is debated and the term is considered by some Zazas to be derogatory; the marijuana slang sense is a much more recent, unrelated coinage.

From "cannibal" plus the suffix "-ism"; "cannibal" traces back through Spanish to a Caribbean people's name recorded by early explorers.

Shortened from the scientific genus name Brettanomyces, itself from Greek roots roughly meaning "British fungus".

From Latin circumferentia, from circum ("around") plus ferre ("to carry").

A learned borrowing from Sanskrit linga ("sign, mark").

From French gerbille, tracing back through Latin to an Arabic word for the jerboa, a related desert rodent.

From Old English ēarwicga, literally "ear insect" — from an old folk belief that the insect crawled into people's ears.

From Latin praesens, "being before" (in front of, at hand), from prae- ("before") and esse ("to be").

From the past participle of Middle English passen, "to pass, go by" — the same root as the modern verb "pass."

From Middle English waxi, built from "wax" plus the adjective ending "-y."

From Old Norse gjörð, related to the Germanic root behind "gird" (to bind or encircle).

From Latin immensus, meaning "unmeasured" or "too large to measure," from in- ("not") plus mensus ("measured").

From Old English sċēaþ, "sheath," an ancient Germanic word for a protective case built around the idea of "splitting" or "dissecting."