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 rodd or rodde, probably related to a Proto-Germanic word meaning "stick" or "club."

From Old English sċēap, an ancient Germanic word of unclear ultimate origin.

From Middle French machine, from Latin māchina ("device, contrivance"), from Greek māchanā, related to "mechanical."

From Middle English peynten, borrowed via Old French from Latin pingere, "to paint," the same root that gives us "picture" and "pigment."

Recorded from the early 1600s, evolving from an earlier word "trouse," which traces back through French and Old Irish to a Germanic word for leg-coverings — ultimately built from roots meaning "thigh" and "breeches."

From Old English to morgne, literally "on/at (the) morning" — to ("at, on") plus morgen ("morning").

From mean in the sense "method used to achieve a result" — compare French moyens.

Scottish Gaelic

From Irish and Scottish Gaelic bogach, "soft, boggy ground," ultimately from a Celtic root meaning "soft."

From Old French contraction, from Latin contractio, itself from contrahere ("to draw together"), the same root behind "contract."

From Old English bula and Old Norse boli, both meaning "bull," from a Germanic root related to swelling or blowing up — describing the animal's bulk.

From Middle English hoggewasch, literally "hog's wash" — kitchen slop fed to pigs. The "nonsense" meaning grew naturally from the idea of worthless swill.

From Greek arkhaikos, "old-fashioned", from arkhaios, "ancient", ultimately from arkhe, "beginning".

From Old English bæc, of ancient Germanic origin, ultimately possibly related to a root meaning "to bend."

From Old English handġeweorc, literally "hand" + "work" — work done with one's own hands.

From Middle English writing, writyng, wryting, wrytyng, from Old English wrīting (“writing”), equivalent to write + -ing.

From mis- ("wrongly") plus understand.

The past participle of mistake, formed with mistake plus -n.

From Old Norse mistaka, "to take in error," from mis- ("wrongly") plus taka ("to take").

From Old English mis- ("wrongly") plus read, going back to misrǣdan, "to advise or read incorrectly."

From Old English mislǣdan, from mis- + lǣdan ("to lead").

From Middle English meten, from Old English metan ("to meet, encounter").

From Old English metan ("to meet, find, encounter"), tracing back to a very old Germanic and Indo-European root meaning "to come together" — related to the word "moot."

From Middle English mathe, from Old English maþa ("maggot, worm"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning grub or caterpillar — the same root behind the modern word maggot.

From Old English macian ("to make, build, work"), from a very old Germanic root meaning "to knead" or "to shape."