Etymology — The origins of English words

limousine

French

From French limousine, originally referring to the Limousin region of France; the coachman's hooded cloak from that region resembled the driver's covered compartment on early cars of this type.

tour

Old French

From Old French tour/tourn, related to the verb tourner, "to turn."

grieve

Latin

From Old French grever ("to burden"), from Latin gravāre — related to "grave" and "grief."

decimate

Latin

From Latin decimare, "to take a tenth" or "to punish by killing one in ten" — from decimus, "tenth." The word originally referred to this specific Roman military punishment before broadening to mean severe destruction generally.

deliver

Latin

From Old French delivrer, ultimately from Latin de- plus liberare, "to set free."

commons

Origin

A shortened form of "House of Commons," itself from common in the sense of "the ordinary people."

metro

French

From French métro, a clipping of métropolitain, originally referring to the Paris subway system — itself named after London's early "Metropolitan Railway".

virus

Latin · 1972

From Latin virus, meaning "poison" or "slimy liquid." The computer sense was popularized after appearing in David Gerrold's 1972 novel When HARLIE Was One.

faux

French

Borrowed directly from French faux, "false", the same root as the English word "false".

fax

Middle English

From Middle English fax, from Old English feax (“hair, head of hair”), from Proto-West Germanic *fahs, from Proto-Germanic *fahsą (“hair, mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *poḱsom (“hair”, literally “that which is combed, shorn, or plucked”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear, pluck”). Cognate with Dutch vas (“headhair”), German Fachs (“head-hair”), Norwegian faks (“mane”), Icelandic fax (“mane”), Sanskrit पक्ष्मन् (pákṣman, “eyelash, hair, filament”).

fab

Origin

Short for "fabulous"; the chip-factory sense is a separate, unrelated shortening of "fabrication."

bromide

Origin

From "brom-" (bromine) plus "-ide." The "platitude" sense comes from American humorist Gelett Burgess, who first used "bromide" for a dull, conventional person — a nod to the compound's use as a calming, dulling sedative.

pronounce

Latin

From Old French prononcier, from Latin prōnūntiō, from pro- ("forth, publicly") plus nūntiō ("to announce").

exactly

Origin

From exact + the adverb suffix -ly.

govern

Latin

From Old French governer, ultimately from Latin gubernare, "to steer a ship" — from the same Greek root that gives us "cybernetics".

perform

Old French

From Anglo-Norman performer, an alteration of Old French parfornir, "to complete, accomplish", from par- + fornir ("to furnish").

gigantic

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek gigantikos, related to gigas ("giant").

enormous

Latin

From Latin enormis, "irregular, huge," from ex- ("out of") + norma ("rule, standard").

wordy

Old English

From Old English "wordig," simply "word" plus the adjective ending "-y."

eliminate

Latin

From Latin ēlīminō, literally "to turn out of doors," from ē- ("out") plus līmen ("threshold").

yokel

Old English · 1812

First recorded around 1812; possibly from a German nickname related to "Jakob," or from an old English dialect word for the green woodpecker.

lab

Origin

Shortened from "laboratory."

dab

Middle English

From Middle English dabben, "to strike," probably of Germanic origin — related to Old Icelandic and Dutch words meaning to tap or slap.

Frankenstein

Origin · 1818

From Victor Frankenstein, the scientist in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel who builds a living being out of corpse parts. People commonly (if technically incorrectly) use "Frankenstein" for the monster itself rather than its creator.