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 lūna, meaning "moon."

From Latin eunūchus, from Ancient Greek eunoûkhos, literally \"bed-keeper\" (from eunḗ, \"bed\" + ékhō, \"to have, keep\") — originally referring to a trusted attendant of the royal bedchamber.

From Old English mōr, related to Dutch moer and German Moor, all meaning boggy upland.

From Middle Dutch/Middle Low German stove, from a very old Germanic word for a heated room; it's related to German Stube ("room") and is the source of the word for "room" in several other languages too.

The insect sense comes from Old French criquer, "to creak or click," imitating the sound crickets make. The sport's name likely comes from the same root, possibly via a Middle Dutch word for a stick or staff used in early bat-and-ball games.

From bat + -s- + man.

From Latin locatio, "a placing", from locare, "to place".

From Old English heafodece, literally "head-ache."

From tele- ("far") and -scope ("to look at"), via Latin tēlescopium and Greek τηλεσκόπος. The word was coined in 1611 for one of Galileo's instruments.

From French passeport, from passer ("to pass") plus port ("port, harbour").

From Old French occean, from Latin Oceanus, from Greek Okeanos, the name of a primordial sea god who was believed to encircle the world.

From head plus phones (an informal shortening of telephones), describing speaker units worn on the head.

UK 1890s. From stwanker, from stinker. Used at Felsted School, Essex.

Middle English · 1590

From Old Norse "kið" (young goat), which entered English through Middle English. The word was first used as slang for "child" around the 1590s and became standard informal English by the 1840s.

From Latin fabricare, "to build or construct," from fabrica, "workshop" — the sense of "make up a lie" developed later in English.

From Greek trilogia, built from tri- ("three") and -logy.

From Middle English, formed by joining "when" and "ever" for emphasis.

From Old English wrecan, "to drive out, punish, avenge" — related to "wreck".

From Old French ficcion, from Latin fictiō ("a shaping, invention"), from fingō ("to form, feign").

From fiction plus the adjective ending -al.

From French développer, ultimately from a Vulgar Latin word meaning "to unwrap" — the opposite of "envelop".

From French développement, from Old French desvelopemens ("unrolling"); development + -ment.

An irregular romanization of Japanese 能 (nō), meaning "skill" or "talent."

A deliberate respelling of "hi," modeled on romanized Japanese spelling conventions.