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 Latin appellare, "to address, call upon," via Old French apeler, "to call."

From Latin apparitio, "an appearing," from apparere, "to appear."

From "apparent" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

From Latin apparens, "appearing," the present participle of apparere, "to appear."

From Old French apareillier, related to "apparel" as in outfitting or preparing something.

From "appall" plus "-ing," ultimately from Old French apalir, "to grow pale."

From Latin apostolicus, from Greek apostolikos, both derived from apostolos, "apostle."

From "apology" plus the verb-forming suffix "-ize," ultimately from Greek apologia, "a speech in one's defense."

From Greek apologetikos, "suitable for a defense," ultimately from the same root as "apology."

The golf sense comes from Middle English, ultimately from the Latin name of the letter T. The computing sense comes from the T-shaped pipe fitting that splits flow in two directions.

From Medieval Latin urinātus, from urinō, "to urinate," built on the root of "urine."

From French élastique, based on New Latin elasticus, ultimately from Greek elastós, "ductile" or able to be stretched.

From Late Latin bīnārius ("consisting of two"), from Latin bīnī ("two by two, a pair").

From Latin stipes, meaning "a stock, post, or tree trunk".

Coined in 1926 from soft + ball, contrasting with the harder ball used in baseball ("hardball").

A back-formation from innings, mistakenly treated as if the -s were a plural ending rather than part of the original word.

From base + ball, referring to the four bases players run between.

Russian · 1918

Borrowed from the Russian acronym ГУЛАГ (GULAG), for the Soviet agency that ran the forced-labor camp network from 1918 to 1960.

From French celtique or Latin celticus, related to "Celt."

An initialism originally standing for "Vertical Helical Scan", later popularly reinterpreted as "Video Home System".

Borrowed from German DIN.

An acronym for "Global Positioning System".

From Latin pastinaca, "parsnip, carrot," related to pastinum, a two-pronged digging fork.

From Old French cocombre, from Latin cucumis, of uncertain earlier origin.