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 Old English hō, an interjection related to Old Norse "hó", a shepherd's call. The slang noun sense is a clipped, informal pronunciation of "whore".

A clipped, colloquial form of the word "already," common in Singlish and similar English varieties.

From the medieval solmization system devised by Guido of Arezzo, in which each note of the scale was named from a syllable in a Latin hymn.

From Old French pinte, likely from Vulgar Latin pincta, "a mark used to show a measured level."

From Old English fæt ("vessel"); the "v" spelling came from a dialect variant, the same shift that turned "fox" into "vixen" in some regions.

Traces back through Old French escroue ("nut, screw-socket") to a Latin word for a female pig — the corkscrew shape reminded people of a boar's anatomy, oddly enough. A separate Germanic strand meaning "to cut" likely blended in along the way.

From Old English bolt, a Germanic word for an arrow or short shaft — the sense of a sudden dash or a lightning strike grew from the idea of something shooting out fast, like an arrow.

From Ancient Greek Ἀττική (Attikḗ).

From Greek Arkadia, the name of a real region of the Peloponnese, later idealized in pastoral poetry.

From Greek "o mikron," meaning "little o," as opposed to the "big o" of omega.

From Spanish cigarro, of uncertain deeper origin.

From voyage plus the agent suffix -er.

From Old English teoru, tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "tree" — tar was traditionally made by distilling pine and other tree resin.

Borrowed from French croissant, meaning "crescent," the present participle of croître ("to grow"); it is a doublet of the English word "crescent."

From Latin terminalis, "pertaining to a boundary or end," from terminus, "a limit."

From Persian afgani, derived from afghan.

From Titan, the mythological race of Greek gods.

From Latin declarationem, from declarare, "to make clear."

From Old French universal, from Latin universalis, built from universus ("all together, whole") — the same root as "universe."

From Middle English fensing, equivalent to fence + -ing.

Coined by chemist Harold Urey from Greek deuteros ("second"), plus -ium.

Transliteration of Chinese 莫 (mò).

A casual spoken variant of "no."

The island sense comes from Old Norse/Scandinavian words for "island" (compare Swedish ö, Danish ø); the "overemployed" sense is a modern internet coinage.