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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Borrowed from Ancient Greek Λάρισσα (Lárissa).

From "guitar" plus the agent suffix "-ist."

Formed from "Burma" plus the suffix "-ese," which English uses to form adjectives and demonyms for countries (compare "Japanese," "Chinese").

Named after the French scientist and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).

The unit of force was named in 1948 after Sir Isaac Newton, the English physicist who formulated the laws of motion.

From Latin lux, "light" — the same root that gives English words like "lucid" and "translucent".

Named after the German physicist Georg Ohm, who described the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance.

Named after the German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894), who proved the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Borrowed from Latin lumen, "light" or "opening." It was first adopted as a scientific unit of light by the French physicist André Blondel in 1894.

From French litre, from Medieval Latin litra, from Greek litra, originally a unit of weight.

Borrowed from French kilogramme, built from Greek-derived kilo- ("thousand") plus gramme ("small weight").

Named after the Scottish physicist William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, who helped define the absolute temperature scale.

The typography sense traces to the same Latin root, fons ("fountain, source"), as the church-basin sense — both describe something a stream flows or is "cast" from.

From Latin Thracia, from Greek Thrāíkē, ultimately linked to the name of the Thracian people.

From Middle English Macedonyen, partly from Macedonia and partly from Latin Macedonius, + -an; equivalent to Macedonia + -an.

From Latin afficere, "to act upon, influence."

From Old English tēag, meaning "cord" or "chain," going back to a Proto-Germanic root for binding things together.

Named after Hamburg, Germany, via the term "Hamburg steak," a dish of seasoned ground beef that later gave its name to the bunned sandwich.

From Ancient Greek Nikolaos, combining nike ("victory") and laos ("people") — literally "victory of the people".

From Medieval Latin Andalusia, from Arabic الْأَنْدَلُس (al-ʔandalus).

Borrowed from Italian Trieste.

From Italian Siena.

From Italian Salerno, from Latin Salernum.

From Italian Rimini, from Latin Arīminium.