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 "quake" plus "-er"; the nickname reportedly began when founder George Fox told a judge to "tremble at the word of the Lord," and the label stuck to members of the movement.

The bird sense and the "lose courage" verb sense come from two different, unrelated old words that happen to look identical in modern English; the verb traces to Middle Dutch quelen, "to suffer."

Borrowed from Japanese 御門 (mikado), literally "honourable gate" — a respectful, indirect way of referring to the emperor.

From Old English fisċ, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "fish," related to Latin piscis.

From Old English bridd, originally meaning specifically a young or small bird before broadening to cover birds generally.

From Latin species, "appearance, kind," from specio, "to look at" — the same root as "spectator" and "inspect."

From Latin quadrans, "a quarter part," through Old French — the same root family as "quarter" and "quart."

From Old English igland, from ieg ("island, water-land") plus land. The "s" was added in the 1500s by mistake, when spellers wrongly linked it to the unrelated French-derived word "isle."

Borrowed directly from Latin quā, meaning "in the capacity of."

Traces back through French ajustement to Latin iustus ("just, correct") — the underlying idea of making something right or precise.

From Middle French advertissement, "statement calling attention," related to advertise.

Originally imitative of the sound itself, from Middle English quacken; the "fake doctor" sense grew out of "quacksalver," an old term for someone who loudly hawked bogus remedies.

From Middle English agayn, from Old English ongēan ("against, again"), ultimately from a Germanic root meaning "toward, against."

From Old English leþer, from an ancient Germanic word possibly borrowed from Celtic, ultimately tied to a very old Indo-European root.

From Old English mylen, borrowed from Late Latin molīnum, "mill," itself from Latin molō, "I grind."

A relaxed, spoken variant of "yes"/"yea."

Borrowed from Spanish gringo, itself likely a twist on griego ("Greek") — historically used for anyone speaking an unintelligible foreign language, echoing the English phrase "it's all Greek to me."

From Old English ġist/ġyst, from a Germanic root related to foam or froth — the same root behind the German word for sea foam.

From Old English Englisċmon, from Englisċ ("English") + man.

Likely a shortening of "pomegranate," used in early-1900s Australian slang for English immigrants, possibly a jokey reference to sunburned skin.

From the Māori name for the bird, imitating its call. "Kiwi" later became a nickname for New Zealanders themselves, and separately lent its name to the green fruit because of a supposed resemblance to the bird's fuzzy body.

A clipped, informal form of "Australian," popularised as military slang from around 1915 onward, though it was already used in Australian sport before that.

From Old French Espaignard, itself built on Espaigne ("Spain") plus the suffix -ard.

From Latin comparativus, from comparare ("to compare").