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 French almanach, ultimately traced back through Medieval Latin to an Arabic word for "climate" or "calendar".

A compound of cook and book, possibly modelled on the German Kochbuch.

From Old English pott and Old French pot, both likely traced back to a Frankish word for a container, ultimately from a very old root meaning 'vessel.' The slang sense for marijuana is unrelated and probably comes from Mexican Spanish potiguaya.

From the ISO country-code style abbreviation for Belarus.

From Mandarin 瑟 (sè), the name of the instrument in Chinese for over two thousand years.

Borrowed directly from the Russian name for the letter, гэ.

Coined in 1970 by the feminist writer Mary Orovan as a gender-neutral alternative to "he" and "she", later adopted by some intentional communities.

Coined in 1812 by music teacher Sarah Anna Glover, replacing an earlier syllable "si" so every solfège note began with a different letter.

From Middle English *ar, arres pl, from earlier *er.

From Old English nā, itself a fusion of ne ("not") and ā ("ever") — the same root that eventually gave us "no."

extraterrestrial

Formed from extra- ("outside") + terrestrial ("of the Earth"), literally "beyond Earth."

Likely from Portuguese ema, originally used for the cassowary and later applied to the emu and ostrich too.

The bird was scientifically named after Rhea, the Greek Titan and mother of Zeus.

From Japanese kana, literally "borrowed name/character" — because the symbols were originally Chinese characters repurposed just for their sound.

From Old French empreinte, from empreindre, from Latin imprimere ("to press into").

From Scots links, "sandy, rolling ground near the seashore," from Old English hlincas ("hills, rising ground").

From auspice, ultimately from Latin auspex ("bird-watcher, augur") — someone who predicted the future by observing birds.

From accelerate plus the suffix -ant, which forms nouns and adjectives describing something that performs an action.

Formed from "betray" plus the noun-forming suffix "-al."

Borrowed from Cantonese 歐／欧 (ou1) or 區／区 (ou1) (Doublet of Ao), or from German Au.

From Middle French modeste, from Latin modestus ("keeping within measure, moderate").

Origin unknown.

A compound of bell and boy, from the practice of ringing a bell to summon this staff member.

From Old French entrecours, from Late Latin intercursus, literally "a running between."