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 the surname of the German theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546) + the suffix -an; Luther itself comes from an Old High German name meaning roughly "army of the people."

From Old English boga, related to a Germanic root meaning "to bend" — the same root behind German Bogen.

From Latin planum, "flat surface," a noun derived from planus, "flat, level" — introduced in the 1600s to separate the geometric sense from the older word "plain," which it's a doublet of.

From Hebrew keruv via Greek and Latin into Old English. The word's meaning shifted a lot over the centuries — the plump winged babies familiar from Renaissance art are a much later, softer image than the original biblical descriptions.

From Middle French mignon, "darling" or "favorite," originally describing a royal favorite before it took on its modern, often dismissive sense of a lowly follower.

From Greek arkhangelos, from arkhi-, "chief", plus angelos, "messenger".

From Latin Christus, from Ancient Greek Khristós ("the anointed one"), itself a translation of the Hebrew word behind "messiah."

From Old French condamner, from Latin condemnare ("to sentence, blame"), from com- plus damnare ("to condemn, harm"), from damnum ("damage, loss").

From Old English "blētsung," formed from "bless" plus "-ing."

From Old English dom, meaning "judgment" — the same root survives in the legal sense of "deem" and originally referred to a court's ruling before it narrowed to mean a grim fate.

From Old English curs, of unknown origin — one of the few common English words with no clear ancestor further back.

The past participle of curse, formed with the ending -ed.

From Old English "bletsian," originally meaning to sanctify with blood in a religious rite — related to the word "blood" itself.

From Middle French impur, from Latin impūrus.

From Old French pur, from Latin pūrus ("clean, unmixed, plain").

From Latin extrā ōrdinem, "outside the [normal] order" — literally beyond the ordinary sequence of things.

From Latin ōrdinārius, "regular, orderly," from ōrdō, "order."

From Middle English unnatural, built from un- + natural.

From Middle French supernaturel, from Medieval Latin supernaturalis, from super- ("above") + natura ("nature").

From Old French eternal, from Latin aeternus (\"eternal\"), from aevum (\"age, lifetime\") — the same root that gives us the word \"age\".

From Old English "woruldlīċ," combining "world" with the adjective ending "-ly."

From Latin saecularis, "of an age or generation," from saeculum ("age, generation"). The Church originally used it to mean "of this present world," as opposed to eternal or spiritual matters.

From Old English unhāliġ, from un- + holy.

From Old French divin, from Latin dīvīnus, "of a god", from divus, "god" — it displaced the native Old English word godcund.