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 via Italian Il Cairo, from Arabic القاهرة (al-qāhira, "the victorious").

From Irish Béal Feirste (literally “mouth of the River Farset”).

Ultimately borrowed from Catalan Barcelona.

From Thai บางกอก (Bang Kok), an older name for the area predating its official Thai name Krung Thep, which is still used internationally.

Possibly from Sanskrit, meaning "island of offerings".

Traced back through Arabic and Classical Persian, ultimately linked to an old Persian name meaning something like "gift of god" — the same root that also produced the name Bhagadatta in Sanskrit.

From French Alger, from Arabic al-jazair ("the islands"), referring to islets that once stood in the harbour.

Borrowed from Latin operator, "one who works," from operari — the same root as "operate."

A learned borrowing from Latin vector ("carrier"), from vehere ("to carry") — the same root as "vehicle." The math sense was coined by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

From Old French constant, from Latin constans, "standing firm," from constare, "to stand together, be consistent."

From French coefficient, coined by the French mathematician François Viète from co- ("together") + efficient.

Origin uncertain — the word entered American English describing severe snowstorms in the 1870s, with earlier, unrelated regional uses meaning a blow or blast.

From black and board, named because such surfaces were once made from black slate.

From Old French perdiciun, from Latin perditio, "loss, destruction", from perdere, "to destroy or lose completely".

From earlier snow-storm, snow storm, equivalent to snow + storm. Compare Scots snawstorm (“snowstorm”), Saterland Frisian Sneestoarm (“snowstorm”), West Frisian sniestoarm (“snowstorm”), Dutch sneeuwstorm (“snowstorm”), German Low German Sneestorm (“snowstorm”), German Schneesturm (“snowstorm”), Danish snestorm (“snowstorm”), Swedish snöstorm (“snowstorm”), Icelandic snjóstormur (“snowstorm”). Compare also Middle English storm of snow (“snowstorm”).

A compound of fruit and cake, first recorded around 1687; the "crazy person" sense (as in "nutty as a fruitcake") appeared much later, in the 1950s.

From Old French ponchonner, "to punch or prick," related to Latin pungere, "to prick."

From Old English næġl, tracing back to a very old Proto-Indo-European root for "nail" shared across many European and Indo-Iranian languages.

From Old French combustion, from Latin combustio, from comburere ("to burn up").

Formed from "gas" plus two chemistry suffixes ("-ol" and "-ine"); some accounts trace the name partly to "Cazeline," an early brand of lighting oil named after its seller John Cassell.

Formed as a back-formation from inflammable, deliberately created so warning labels wouldn't be misread as meaning "not flammable."

From Ancient Greek esōterikos, "belonging to an inner circle," from esōterō, "further within" — originally used for the private teachings Greek philosophers reserved for their closest students, as opposed to public lectures.

Probably from factor plus the suffix -y, likely shaped by association with Latin facere, "to make."

From Old English hǣtu, an ancient Germanic word for warmth, related to "hot."