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 shit plus faced, an intensifying slang formation.

Sanskrit · 1540

Coined under Sher Shah Suri in the 1540s from Sanskrit रूप्य (rūpya), meaning "wrought silver" or "stamped coin."

Borrowed from French masturbation, from New Latin masturbatio.

The pronoun comes from Old English "ic," an older ancestor of "I"; the fish-disease sense is simply a shortening of the parasite's scientific name, Ichthyophthirius.

From Latin Ursula, the name of a fourth century saint. Via Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos cognate with Arcady.

From French solidarité, from solidaire ("mutually responsible"), ultimately from Latin solidum ("a whole").

The Korean sense comes from a Korean word borrowed from Middle Chinese meaning "resentment" or "regret." The dynasty/ethnicity sense is a separate Chinese word referring to the historical Han state.

From Latin locātus, "placed", from locō, "to place", from locus, "place".

Borrowed from Dutch Amsterdam.

From Late Latin cyclus, from Ancient Greek kuklos ("circle"), from a very old Indo-European word for "wheel" — the same root that ultimately gives us "wheel" itself.

From Late Latin Laura, from the feminine form of laurus, "laurel tree."

From Old French briber, "to beg", originally describing money given to a beggar — the meaning later shifted to a corrupt payment for favors.

From Middle English sonne-sett, literally the sun setting.

From Greek bios ("life") plus -logia ("study of"), coined in the early 1800s as the science of living things became a distinct field.

From Hawaiian Hawaiʻi, tracing back to an old Polynesian word for an ancestral homeland.

From Latin Britannia, itself from an ancient Celtic name for the island, first recorded by Greek writers.

From Latin Palaestina, via Greek, ultimately from Hebrew p'leshet ("land of the Philistines").

From Old English dragan and Old Norse draga, both meaning "to draw or pull," from a common Proto-Germanic root.

From Latin generatio ("a begetting, producing"), from generare ("to beget, produce").

From Latin extrēmitās, "furthest point," built on extrēmus ("outermost") — the same root as "extreme."

From Latin palpabilis, from palpare ("to touch softly, feel"), the same root as "palp" and "palpitate."

From Middle English danke ("wet, damp"), likely from a North Germanic source related to Swedish dank ("marshy spot"). The internet slang sense grew out of an older drug-culture use meaning "strong, high-quality," which later broadened into general praise.

Formed by adding the regular plural ending -s to you, filling a gap since standard English "you" doesn't distinguish singular from plural.

From Middle French magicien, from magique ("magic").