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 tellan, "to count, tell," from a Germanic root meaning "to count, enumerate" — the same root that gives us "tale" and "talk."

From Middle English tor, tore, toor, from Old Norse tor- (“hard, difficult, wrong, bad”, prefix), from Proto-Germanic *tuz- (“hard, difficult, wrong, bad”), from Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad, ill, difficult”). Cognate with Old High German zur- (“mis-”, prefix), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌶- (tuz-, “hard, difficult”, prefix), Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-, “bad, ill, difficult”, prefix). More at dys-.

From Old English tæcan, "to show or point out," related to an ancient root meaning "to show" — the same root gives us the word "token."

From Old English tacen, the past participle of the verb take, formed with the -n ending typical of strong verbs.

From Old English swingan, meaning "to strike, whip, or fling about" — related to the now-rare word swink, "to labor."

From Old English swimman, "to swim or float" — an ancient Germanic verb shared, in some form, by nearly every northern European language.

The past participle of swell, from Old English geswollen.

From Old English swellan, "to swell" — an ancient Germanic word with cousins in Dutch, German, and Swedish all meaning the same thing.

From Middle English swepen, tracing back through Old Germanic roots related to a swinging or striking motion — the same family as "swoop."

The past participle of swear, from Old English sworen.

From Old English swerian, meaning "to take an oath," from a Proto-Germanic root related to speaking or declaring. The meaning shifted in Middle English to also cover cursing, partly because using strong language was seen as similar to swearing false or careless oaths.

From Old English streng, from a Proto-Germanic root related to "tighten" — ultimately connected to the word "strong."

From the old past participle of "strike," via Old English stricen.

From Old English strican ("to go, stroke, rub"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to stroke or press" — the sense evolved through "to strike a flag" (lower it) into today's meanings of hitting and of workers stopping work.

From Old English stif, from a Proto-Germanic root related to Latin stipes ("post" or "trunk") — the same root that gives English "stevedore."

From Old English stīþnes, built from "stiff" plus the noun ending "-ness".

From Middle English stifnen — "stiff" plus the verb-forming ending "-en", same pattern as "harden" or "soften".

From Latin stimulatus, past participle of stimulare ("to goad or urge on"), from stimulus ("a sharp point or goad").

From Old English netele, of Germanic origin, from the same root family as "net."

From Latin impactus, attested in English since the 1600s.

From Old French estriver ("to compete, quarrel"), from a Frankish root meaning "to exert oneself." The English verb picked up irregular past forms (strove, striven) by analogy with verbs like "drive" and "ride."

From Old English stridan, related to words in other Germanic languages meaning "to fight" or "to stride" — the sense narrowed to walking with long steps.

A dialect respelling of "stink," from a regional pronunciation pattern where "i" shifts toward "a." The music sense is a modern slang extension — a groove so raw it practically has a smell.

From Old English stincan, from an ancient Germanic root meaning "to push or strike" — related to the idea of a smell "hitting" you.