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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Formed from "scare" plus "crow," since its original purpose was to scare crows off farmland.

From Old French plaisir/plesir, ultimately from Latin placere ("to please"). Closely related to please.

Built from liberty plus -arian ("a believer in"). First used in English in 1789 in a debate over free will, long before it took on its modern political meaning in the 20th century.

From Greek apotheke, "a storehouse," via Latin apotheca and Old French apotecaire — literally, someone who runs a place where things are stored.

From whole plus sale — literally "selling as a whole" (in bulk) rather than piece by piece.

A straightforward compound of ware ("goods") and house.

Borrowed via Medieval Latin respectivus from Latin respectus ("a looking back, regard").

From cheese plus the adjective suffix -y.

From Latin destructivus, from destruere, "to destroy".

From Middle English choppen, of uncertain origin — possibly imitative of the sound, or a variant of chap ("to crack").

From Latin arma ("weapons") + sistere ("to bring to a stand"), giving the sense "a standing-still of arms."

From Old English Crīstes mæsse, literally \"Christ's mass\" — the church service celebrating Christ's birth.

From Old English nǣdl, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to spin or twist" — related to modern German Nadel.

Built from "private" plus the noun-forming suffix -cy, following the same pattern as "accuracy" from "accurate."

From Old English gebyrddæg, a compound of "birth" and "day" — literally "day of birth".

From Middle English procatour, a shortened form of procuratour — related to proxy and a doublet of procurator.

From New Latin androides, built from Greek andros ("man") plus a suffix meaning "form" or "shape" — literally "man-shaped."

From Ancient Greek prōtagōnistḗs, "the first actor," from prôtos ("first") plus agōnistḗs ("actor, contestant.")

From Middle English splinter, from Middle Dutch splinter, built from splint plus the -er suffix.

From Old English hearpe, going back to a shared Germanic root — the same word appears as Harfe in German and harpa in Swedish.

From French visa, from Latin charta visa, "paper that has been seen" — from videre, "to see." Related to vision and video.

From trumpet + -er (occupational suffix) or + -er (agent noun suffix).

Of uncertain origin, possibly from an old Celtic word meaning "portion" or "piece" — which would make it distantly related to the word "piece".

From Latin textilis, "woven", from texere, "to weave".