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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Traced back through Old French and Latin to Ancient Greek kerasos, the name of the wild cherry tree — the same root that gives us "cerise" and the Turkish city "Giresun."

From Spanish "tomate," from the Classical Nahuatl word "tomatl."

From Late Latin mentālis, from Latin mēns ("mind").

From Old French nuisance, "harm", ultimately from Latin nocere, "to hurt" — the same root that gives us "innocent" and "noxious".

From Latin minusculus ("rather small"), from minus ("less").

From Old English "smæl," meaning narrow or slender, tracing back to a very old Proto-Indo-European root simply meaning "little."

From Old French pulpite and Latin pulpitum, meaning "platform" or "stage."

From "kindle" plus the suffix "-ing," describing the material used for kindling a fire.

Merges two old English verbs — one meaning "to command or ask" (as in "bid you welcome") and one meaning "to offer a price" — which is why "bid" today covers both greeting/commanding and auction senses.

From Old English Engla land, "land of the Angles" — the Angles being a Germanic tribe who settled there.

From Catalan Catalunya; the ultimate origin of the name is disputed.

Borrowed from Arabic hinna, the name of the plant the dye comes from.

From French bombe, from Italian bomba, ultimately from Greek bómbos, "a booming sound" — imitating the noise of an explosion.

From Old English twelf, an old Germanic compound meaning roughly "two left over" after counting to ten.

From Old English endleofan, literally "one left [over]" after counting to ten — from Proto-Germanic roots meaning "one" and "left, remaining."

From protest plus the agent suffix -er.

From Old English tigras and Old French tigre, both from Latin tigris, ultimately from Greek and an Iranian source related to a word for "arrow" — likely a reference to the animal's speed.

Borrowed via Portuguese and Spanish from a West African language, possibly Wolof; the exact origin is debated.

From Old English durran ("to dare"), a very old Germanic verb related to the idea of being bold enough to face something.

From Afrikaans donder ("to thrash"), itself from Dutch donder, "thunder" — making it a distant doublet of the English word "thunder."

From Old English giefan, merged with Old Norse gefa, both meaning "to give," from a common Germanic root.

Ultimately from Arabic دار (dār).

From French Catalan, from the region's own name for itself, Catalunya.

From Finn plus the adjective-forming suffix -ish.