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 rǣding, formed from "read" plus "-ing."

The past participle of "lose", from Old English losod.

From "prate" (to chatter) plus the frequentative ending "-le," suggesting repeated small chattering.

Origin uncertain, possibly linked to "phooey" or used as a softened stand-in for a cruder word.

Italian · 1900

A playful respelling of "bologna," the Italian sausage; the "nonsense" meaning grew from American slang in the early 20th century.

From Middle English dravel, dribil, a deverbal from drevelen, drivelen (Etymology 2).

An old alternative past tense of "light," formed by analogy with words like bit and fit; the slang senses (drunk, excellent) developed much more recently in the 20th and 21st centuries.

From Old English lēoht, from a very old root meaning "to shine" shared across most European languages.

Borrowed directly from the German word Lied, meaning "song."

From Middle English, ultimately from Old English licgan ("to lie down").

From Old English licgan ("to lie down") and, separately, leogan ("to tell an untruth") — two originally distinct Old English verbs that happen to look alike in modern English.

From Old English laetan, "to allow, leave, or bequeath," a very old Germanic verb related to German lassen.

From Old English lǣnan, "to grant or give as a loan" — related to the noun "loan" itself.

From Old English lǣfan, "to leave behind," related to an old Germanic root meaning "to remain" or "to stay."

Past participle of learn, from Old English lǣran, "to teach."

From Latin dictio, "a saying or speaking," from dico, "to say."

From Old English hlinian, "to lean or recline," from an ancient Germanic root related to the English word "climate" through a shared Indo-European origin meaning "to slope."

From Old English leċġan, "to lay" — the causative form of "lie" (to make something lie down), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną.

From Ancient Greek euphēmismós, from eúphēmos (\"using words of good omen\"), from eu- (\"well\") + phḗmē (\"speech, voice\").

From lighten + -ing; a doublet of "lightening," though the two words diverged in spelling and meaning.

From Latin continens, "holding together, unbroken," the present participle of continēre ("to contain, hold together").

The past participle of "know," from Old English cnāwan, ultimately from a very old root meaning "to recognize" that also gave us "notice" and "note" in other languages.

From horse + shit.

From Old English cnyttan, meaning "to tie, fasten, or bind" — closely related to the word knot.