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 Middle English dukeling, built from duck + the diminutive suffix -ling.

Borrowed via Spanish manatí from a Caribbean indigenous language, where the root word meant "breast."

Origin unclear, possibly linked to French s'allonger, "to stretch out or lie down."

From Old French couche, related to the verb coucher ("to lie down").

Borrowed directly from Japanese sumō.

From the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Yeshua, meaning roughly "the Lord saves" — the same underlying name as Joshua.

From Old English hōre, going back to a very old Indo-European root meaning "dear" or "desired" — the same root that gives Latin carus ("dear") and the English word care.

From an earlier form char/chare, from Old English cierran ("to turn"), the same root that gives us "char" in "charwoman."

From Middle English "nose," probably borrowed from a Middle Low German word for a loop or snare — the exact origin is debated, but it may trace back to a Germanic word for an eyelet or ring.

Borrowed from Latin recens ("fresh, new").

From Latin specialis, "individual, particular," from species, "kind" — the same root behind "species" and "specific."

From Old French bagage, related to bague ("bundle" or "sack"), and ultimately connected to the same root as the English word "bag."

Formed in the 1590s from lug ("to drag") plus the suffix -age, literally "that which is dragged around." Compare baggage, formed the same way.

From Middle English luggen, likely from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish lugga); the noun sense of "ear" comes via Scots lugge, possibly from a similar Norse root.

Borrowed from Japanese, based on the onomatopoeic sound the machines make.

From Middle English logge, probably from an Old Norse word for a felled tree, related to "lie" (as in "lying on the ground").

Borrowed from Scots putt, meaning "to put" or "to push."

Entered English in the 1490s as a legal term meaning "unsupported" or "not formally attested," from Latin nudus, "naked, bare."

Borrowed directly from German Kitsch, likely linked to a dialect word meaning "to smear" or "throw together carelessly." The term caught on internationally in the 1930s among critics who used it to describe cheap or sentimental art in contrast to serious avant-garde work.

From Old English māra, "more," related to Dutch meer and German mehr.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

From grate + -er, "the thing that grates".

From Medieval Latin crata / Latin cratis, meaning a wickerwork frame or hurdle.

From Old English grēat, meaning "big, thick, coarse" — related to modern German gross and Dutch groot.