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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Borrowed from Tibetan གཡག (g.yag). See there for more.

From Old French picture, from Latin pictūra ("a painting"), from pingere ("to paint").

From Greek anarkhia, built from an- ("without") plus arkhe ("rule" or "authority").

Borrowed via Spanish from Aymara allpaqa.

From Anglo-Norman carcois, related to Old French charcois — the exact roots further back are uncertain.

From Old English eolh, going back to a very old Germanic and Indo-European word for a deer-like animal.

From Middle English ostrich, via Old French ostruce, from Vulgar Latin roots combining "bird" and a word borrowed from Greek for the same bird — itself thought to come from "sparrow" plus "camel," describing its odd mix of bird and beast-like features.

Traced through Portuguese zebra/zebro back to Latin equiferus ("wild horse"), from equus ("horse") + ferus ("wild").

From Old Norse hreinn ("reindeer") plus dýr ("animal") — unrelated to the word "rein" used for horses.

From Old English dēor ("animal, beast"), which originally meant any wild animal, not just the antlered kind — the narrower modern sense developed later in English. The word is cognate with German Tier ("animal").

From Old English diere, "of great value, precious, beloved", from a Germanic root shared with German teuer, "expensive".

From Greek epitáphios, "over a tomb" — from epi- ("over") + táphos ("tomb").

Borrowed from a Powhatan word describing the animal's habit of scratching or rubbing with its hands.

From Latin pristinus, meaning "former" or "original" — related to the idea of something being in its very first, unaltered state.

From Old French finir, ultimately from Latin finis, meaning "end" or "boundary."

From Old English feallan ("to fall, fail, die"). The sense "autumn" developed in English as a shortening of the older phrase "fall of the leaf."

Middle English · 1500

From Middle English handsum ("easy to handle"), from "hand" + "-some." The meaning shifted over time from "convenient" to "attractive" by the late 1500s.

From Middle French regime, from Latin regimen, "direction, government." It is a doublet of regimen.

From Old English þis, an ancient Germanic demonstrative — the "near" counterpart to "that".

From Old English an, meaning "one" — the same root that gave us the number "one."

From Old English for, going back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "before" or "in front of" — related to German für and Dutch voor.

From Old English el, the name given to the letter L, ultimately from Latin.

Old English · 1500

Formed in the 1500s–1600s as a new possessive form of "it" — Old English originally used "his" instead.

From Old English tā, from a Proto-Germanic root related to "showing" or "pointing" — related to Latin dīcere ("to say") and digitus ("finger").