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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In the sense of a manufacturer; clipping of 'manufacturer'

From Middle Dutch schrabbelen, a repeated form of a verb meaning \"to scrape.\"

From Italian lira, ultimately from Latin libra ("a pound," originally a unit of weight). A doublet of libra and litre.

From Old English talu, meaning "story, series, or reckoning," related to "tell" and "talk."

From Old English buttuc ("end piece; short strip of land"), with the -ock ending making it a diminutive — literally "little end piece."

From Old French faerie, "enchantment," built from fae ("fay") plus "-erie." Originally meant the state of enchantment itself before coming to mean an individual magical creature.

From Old English ūt, from a very old Germanic root meaning "away, outward" — found in related forms across most Germanic languages.

From Hebrew אַהֲרֹן (ʾAhărōn) via Greek and Latin; the original meaning is uncertain, though it has been linked to ideas like "exalted" or "mountain of strength".

From the Biblical Hebrew עֶזְרָא (ʿezrā). Doublet of Esdras.

From act plus the suffix -ing.

From French acrobate, tracing back to Greek akrobatēs, "one who walks on tiptoe" — a combination of akron ("tip, peak") and bainein ("to walk").

From "acquit" plus the noun ending "-al."

From Old French aquerre, from Latin acquiro, built from ad- ("to") and quaero ("to seek").

From Old French acointance, "friendship, familiarity," from acointier, "to acquaint."

Middle English · 1500

A blend of two Middle English verbs — one meaning "to recognize" and one meaning "to reveal or admit" — that merged into one word in the 1500s.

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old English līra (“any fleshy part of the body, muscle, calf of the leg”), from Proto-Germanic *ligwizô, *lihwizô (“thigh, groin”), from Proto-Indo-European *lekʷs-, *lewks- (“groin”). Cognate with Dutch lies (“groin”), Swedish lår (“thigh”).

From Old English berern, a compound of "bere" (barley) and "ærn" (a building) — literally a "barley house."

The plural of criterion, formed the Greek way (-on becomes -a).

* accredit + -ed * From the French accréditer. * See credit.

From Latin cōnfīdēns, present participle of cōnfīdere ("to trust fully"). Related to "confide."

From Latin cōnfīdentia, from cōnfīdō ("to trust fully") — from con- + fīdō ("trust").

From Old English tæppa/tæppe, meaning "ribbon" or "strip of material"; the exact origin before that is unclear.

From Middle English makerel, borrowed from Old French maquerel — the deeper origin is uncertain.

Derived from Spanish Santa (“saint”).