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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Derived through Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin 臺灣 (Táiwān), tracing back to a Hokkien placename for a sandbank near modern Tainan.

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Μακεδονία (Makedonía, “Macedonia”), from μακεδονία (makedonía, “highland”), from μακεδνός (makednós, “high, tall”). Doublet of macedoine.

The psychology sense comes from Latin id ("it"), chosen by Freud's English translators to render his German term Es. The "identification" sense is simply short for "identification/identity".

The wrestling move's name origin is debated, with several rival stories floating around in wrestling lore.

From Yiddish yidish, itself from a Middle High German phrase meaning literally "Jewish German".

From Iceland + the adjective-forming suffix -ic.

Originally an acronym for "radio detection and ranging", coined by US Navy officers in 1940; it later became an ordinary word in its own right.

Borrowed from Halkomelem (a Coast Salish language), sásq'ets, meaning "hairy man."

Coined in 1958 from "big" plus "foot," referring to the unusually large footprints attributed to the creature.

Borrowed from Tibetan, from words meaning roughly "rocky" or "wild place" plus "bear" — first recorded in English around 1937.

From Latin derivatus, past participle of derivare, "to derive"; related to derive.

From Middle French prononciation, from Latin prōnūntiātiō, from prōnūntiāre ("to proclaim").

From Old English hit, from Proto-Germanic hit, related to this and here.

The "sleeping berth" sense likely comes from Scottish English bunker, of uncertain but possibly Scandinavian origin.

A doublet of Granada, from the Spanish name for the city in Spain, ultimately from Arabic غَرْنَاطَة (Ḡarnāṭa).

From the native Chamorro word Guåhan, meaning roughly "a place that has [resources]."

From Old English standan, "to stand, occupy a place," from a very old Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to stand" that also gave Latin stare and many related words across European languages.

A worn-down form of "skirmish," originally meaning a minor scuffle before narrowing to its football sense.

From Old French escarmouche, tracing back to Italian scaramuccia — the same root that gave English the character name "Scaramouche".

Named after the Atlantic island territory of Bermuda, itself named for the Spanish navigator Juan de Bermúdez.

Borrowed from Samoan Sāmoa. See there for more.

From Old English gise, meaning roughly "may it be so" or "certainly" — from the same root as "yea".

A diminutive form of the older English word "babe," probably imitating the sounds a baby makes (compare "babble").

Borrowed into British English from Burmese ဗမာ (bama), a colloquial form of မြန်မာ (Myanmar).