Etymology — The origins of English words

crop

Old English

From Old English cropp, originally meaning the top or head of a plant, or a bird's craw — later extended to mean a harvest, and then to cutting things short.

entropy

Greek · 1865

Coined in 1865 by physicist Rudolf Clausius from Greek en- ("in") and trope ("transformation"), modeled on the word "energy."

enter

Latin

From Old French entrer, from Latin intrare ("to go in"). British English keeps the French-style "-re" ending in related words like "centre" and "theatre," while American English uses "enter"-style "-er" spellings for those.

scatter

Middle English

From Middle English scateren, likely a variant of "shatter," and possibly ultimately imitative in origin.

cage

Latin

From Old French cage, going back to Latin cavea, "hollow place, enclosure" — the same root that gives us "cave" and "jail."

resign

Latin

From Latin resignare, "to unseal, annul" — from re- plus signare, "to seal, stamp".

manger

Old French

From Old French mangeoire, from mangier, "to eat" — the same root that gives modern French manger.

Nessie

Origin

Formed from "Ness" (as in Loch Ness) plus the affectionate suffix -ie.

ready

Old English

From Old English rǣde/ġerǣde ("prepared, ready"), from a Germanic root meaning "to arrange or make comfortable."

ut

Latin

From Latin ut ("as, how"), the first word of a Latin hymn used to teach the musical scale by Guido of Arezzo.

aflame

Latin

From Middle English a-flame, combining the "a-" prefix ("on") with "flame," ultimately from Latin flamma.

homage

Latin

From Old French homage, ultimately from Latin homo ("man") — originally the formal pledge of loyalty a vassal made to his lord.

Papua

Origin

There are three theories: * From Malay pepuah (“curly (of hair)”) for the natives of the island of New Guinea. * From Ternate/Tidore papo ua (“not united; not coalesced”), referring to the territory that geographically was far away from the Sultanate of Tidore (and thus not united). The territory was called papo ua gam sio (“nine village/region that is not united”). * From Biak sup i babwa (“the land below [the sunset]”), referring to the islands (Raja Ampat) west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera.

student

Latin

From Old French estudiant, from Latin studens ("one who applies oneself"), the present participle of studere, "to study."

singer

Old English

From Old English/Middle English sing plus the agent suffix -er — literally "one who sings."

cantor

Latin

Borrowed from Latin cantor, "singer," from canere, "to sing." A doublet of "chanter."

Devon

Origin

Named after Devon, the English county, where the cattle breed originated; the processed meat sense followed the same place-name pattern much later.

scull

Middle English

From Middle English sculle, of uncertain origin, possibly linked to an Old Norse word meaning "to rinse" or "wash."

skull

Middle English

From Middle English sculle, likely from a dialect form of Old Norse skalli ("bald head, skull").

Okinawa

Japanese

From Japanese 沖縄 (Okinawa).

enzyme

German · 1878

Coined in 1878 by German physiologist Wilhelm Kuhne from Greek en- ("in") plus zyme ("leaven, yeast").

album

Latin

From Latin album, "a blank white tablet" — Roman officials used whitened boards like this to post public notices, from albus, "white."

chaste

Latin

From Old French chaste, from Latin castus ("pure, morally clean").

chart

Latin

From Middle French charte, from Latin charta ("papyrus, paper"), ultimately from Greek khartes. A doublet of "card" and "carte," and related to "charter."