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 sexe, from Latin sexus, ultimately from a root meaning "to cut, divide" — reflecting the idea of the species being divided into two categories.

From Old English scōl, borrowed from Latin schola, itself from Greek skholē — which originally meant "leisure" or "spare time," since study was once seen as something done in one's free time.

From fore- ("before") + play — literally "play that comes before."

Borrowed from Latin sexualis, from sexus, "sex."

From Old French estimer, from Latin aestimare, "to value or assess" — the same root behind "estimate."

From Old French dignité, from Latin dignitas, "worthiness," from dignus, "worthy."

From Old French influence, originally "an emanation from the stars affecting fate," from Latin influere, "to flow into." A doublet of influenza.

Borrowed from an Inuit word meaning roughly "hunter's boat," originally used by Arctic peoples for hunting on water.

Spanish · 1500

Adopted in the 1500s from Spanish canoa, from an Indigenous Caribbean (Taíno) word for a dugout boat.

A clipping of "omnibus," Latin for "for all" — originally the name for a horse-drawn public passenger vehicle in 19th-century France.

From Old English nǣfre, formed from ne ("not") plus ǣfre ("ever").

From Old English ne, "not," from a common Germanic and Indo-European negative particle.

From Chinese Mandarin li, romanizing two distinct native words — one for the unit of distance, another the philosophical term for ritual propriety.

Formed from "Scandinavia" plus the adjective/noun ending "-an."

From Latin Scandināvia, from a Germanic word linked to the southern tip of Sweden, "Scania," plus a suffix meaning "island."

Attested since 1808. In typography, the em is named after the em quadrat (later called em quad), from m quadrat, a metal type used in letterpress typesetting, which is as wide as the point size of the font.

Borrowed from Chinese 玉 (yù), meaning "jade."

From Japanese 弓 (yumi), meaning "bow."

Named in 1789 by the chemist Martin Klaproth after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered just a few years earlier.

Borrowed from French radium, built from "radio(actif)" ("radioactive") plus the element-naming suffix "-ium".

A contraction of "radium emanation", since the gas is produced by radium's radioactive decay.

Named by Marie Curie in 1898 after Poland (Latin Polonia), her home country, to draw attention to its political situation.

Named from Greek thallos, "green shoot," because the element produces a bright green line in its spectrum.

From Middle English mercurie, ultimately named after the Roman god Mercury, likely because of the metal's quick, fluid movement.