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 Latin distributio, "a dividing up," from the same root as distribute.

From Old English duru, an ancient word going back to a Proto-Indo-European root for "doorway" shared across most European and many Asian languages.

From Latin effectus, "accomplished, brought about."

From Latin recessio, from recedere ("to withdraw").

From Japanese kanji, literally "Han characters" — characters that originated in China during the Han dynasty and were adopted into Japanese writing.

From Ancient Greek akoustikos, "relating to hearing," from akouo, "to hear."

From "acoustic" plus the plural science-naming ending "-s," as in "physics" or "mathematics."

From Old English æcern ("acorn, nut"), later respelled to look like "corn" even though the two words aren't related.

From Latin declinare, "to bend away, turn aside" — from de- ("down") + clinare ("to bend"), the same root found in "incline" and "recline."

Imitative of the sound itself, echoed in older words like Old English twengan, "to pinch".

From Old French sophisticacion, from Medieval Latin sophisticationem, related to sophisticate.

From space + -craft, on the pattern of "aircraft."

A straightforward compound of "space" and "ship."

From space + man.

From Old French soveraineté, from soverain ("sovereign") plus the noun-forming suffix -té.

From Old French soverain, from Vulgar Latin *superanus ("above others"), from Latin super ("above"). The modern spelling was reshaped by folk association with "reign," even though the words come from different roots.

From Old English sutherne, from Proto-Germanic *sunthronijaz, ultimately related to the root for "sun."

From Old English lacu ("stream, pool"), blended over time with the unrelated Old French lac (from Latin lacus, "lake, basin") — two separate old words that merged into one modern spelling.

From Old English is, going back to a very old Germanic root for "ice" or "frost."

From German Wermut, "wormwood" — the plant traditionally used to flavor it. A doublet of the English word "wormwood."

From Old French venim, from Vulgar Latin *venīmen, ultimately from Latin venēnum ("poison, drug, charm").

From Old French journee ("a day's travel"), from Latin diēs ("day") — a journey originally meant the distance you could cover in one day.

From Latin vel, meaning "or".

Borrowed from French microbe, built from Greek mikros ("small") and bios ("life") — literally "tiny life."