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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Formed from "belong" plus the suffix "-ing."

From Latin vastus, meaning "empty" or "immense" — the same root that gives us "waste" and "devastate."

From Old English ondrǣdan, "to fear," formed from and- (a prefix like "against") plus rǣdan, an early relative of "read" in the sense of "advise" or "counsel."

From the Akkadian name meaning roughly "Gate of God," passed down through Greek and Latin into English.

Named after the Lido, a beach island in Venice that became one of Europe's first fashionable seaside resorts in the 1800s — the word later became a general term for any outdoor pool.

Variant of Lock.

A shortening of dreadlocks.

From Jamaican Creole, combining dread (linked to Rastafarian religious awe) and locks (tufts of hair).

A straightforward compound of China and town.

From "definite" + the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

From Middle English belongen, combining "be-" with an Old English word meaning "to pertain to" or "be fitting."

Formed from head plus the suffix -ing, originally referring to whatever stood at the "head" (top) of a page or a group.

From Hebrew kibbutz, meaning "gathering" or "collective", from the verb "to gather" or "assemble".

The stone-pit sense traces to Latin quadrare, "to square" (referring to squared-off blocks of stone); the hunted-animal sense comes from a separate Old French word for the parts of a kill fed to hunting dogs.

From Sanskrit nirvāṇa, literally "blown out" or "extinguished," describing the snuffing out of craving and suffering.

From Late Latin indigenus, "native, born in a country," from an old root meaning "born within."

From Old French natif, from Latin nātīvus, "born, natural," from nātus, "born."

From Old French forain, ultimately from Latin foris, meaning "outside." The silent "g" was added later, likely by analogy with the word reign.

From Old French forage, related to fuerre ("straw, fodder"), tracing back to a Germanic word for "fodder."

From Latin gentilis ("of the same clan or people"), from gens ("clan, tribe") — a doublet of "gentle" and "genteel".

From French mercantile, from Italian mercantile, from mercante ("merchant"), ultimately from Latin merx ("merchandise").

From Late Latin magnātēs, plural of magnās, from magnus ("great").

From Latin mercēnārius ("hired for money"), from mercēs ("wages, reward").

From Italian marinare, "to pickle," ultimately from Latin marinus ("of the sea"), because early recipes used seawater or brine.