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 route + -er.

Old English · 1965

From Old English mūs, tracing back to a very old Proto-Indo-European word for the animal. The computer sense was coined by engineer Bill English in 1965, after the device's cord resembled a tail.

From Old English midniht, from "mid-" + "night" — literally the middle of the night.

From Old English seon, "to see, perceive, understand," from a very old Germanic root shared across most Germanic languages.

From Old Norse kasta ("to throw"), via Middle English casten — it eventually displaced the native English word "warp" in the sense of throwing.

From Hawaii plus the suffix -an, used to form adjectives and nationality nouns, as in "American" or "Canadian."

From Dutch daalder, itself from German Taler — short for Joachimsthaler, meaning "of Joachimstal," the town where the original coins were minted.

Formed from "Korea" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-an".

From Anglo-Norman sausiche, tracing back to Late Latin salsīcia, meaning "seasoned with salt" — from the same root as "salt."

From Old English cwen, "queen, wife," from a Germanic root meaning "woman."

From Old English cyning, ultimately from a Germanic root meaning "of the kin/clan" — a king was originally seen as leader of the people or family group, not just ruler of land.

From Middle English kyndelen, borrowed from Old Norse kynda, "to light a fire."

From Old English twigge, related to German Zweig ("branch"), ultimately going back to the same ancient root as the number "two," since a twig branches off in a fork.

From Old English hliehhan/hlæhhan, of Germanic origin, imitating the sound of laughter itself.

From Old English wīfmann, literally "female person" — a compound of wīf ("woman", the ancestor of "wife") and mann ("person").

From Old French trone, from Latin thronus, from Greek thronos, "chair" or "seat."

From Late Latin edibilis, from Latin edere ("to eat") — a doublet of "eatable."

From Old English wierrest, the superlative form paired irregularly with "bad" and "worse," much like "good," "better," "best."

A fusion of worth (adjective) and while (a period of time) — literally "worth the while."

The past tense of "will," from Old English wolde.

From Old English wund (noun) and wundian (verb), both from a common Germanic root.

From Old English wefan, an ancient Germanic verb meaning "to weave" or "to braid."

From Old English wringan, "to squeeze, twist" — related to German ringen ("to wrestle, struggle").

From Old English wrītan, originally meaning "to carve" or "scratch marks" — writing began as scratching symbols into wood or stone.