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 Middle English Wales, from Old English Wēalas, plural of wealh (“Celt, Welsh person”), from Proto-West Germanic *walh, from Proto-Germanic *walhaz (“Celt, Roman”). Compare the second element in Cornwall, and also Gaul.

From Albania + the adjective/noun suffix -n.

From Persian afghan, ultimately from an old Bactrian word thought to mean roughly "people from a distant land."

From Latin index, "forefinger, indicator, sign," from indicare, "to point out" — the same root as indicate.

A shortened form of "advertisement."

Shortened from Middle English mappemounde, "map of the world," ultimately from Latin mappa mundi — mappa meaning "cloth" (a map was once drawn on cloth) and mundi meaning "of the world."

From Ancient Greek phoinix, ultimately traced to an Egyptian word for the grey heron, a bird once worshipped at Heliopolis and linked to yearly renewal along the Nile.

From an Old English word for a weaving tool that shoots back and forth across a loom.

From Old French quer/cuer, from Latin chorus, from Greek khoros ("a group of dancers or singers") — a doublet of "chorus" and "quire."

From Latin generalis ("relating to a whole class or kind"), from genus ("kind, class") — the same root behind "genre" and "genus".

Medieval Latin · 1600

From Medieval Latin quotātiō, tied to quotāre ("to number" or "to mark"); the "repeated words" sense developed in English from the 17th century onward.

From Old French poison, from Latin potio, "a drink" — originally just meant "a drink" or "potion" before narrowing to mean a harmful one.

Acronym of the French "Fédération Internationale de Football Association."

From "acid" plus the adjective ending "-ic."

From the Ancient Greek name Akhilleus, of uncertain origin, borrowed into Latin as Achilles.

From Old French achever, "to finish" or "bring to a head," ultimately built from Latin caput ("head") — the sense being to bring something to its final point.

Old English · 1700

From Old English acan (the verb) and æce (the noun), going back to a very old Germanic root meaning "to hurt." The two spellings merged over time, partly because an 18th-century dictionary writer mistakenly linked the word to a similar-sounding Greek word for pain.

Coined in French from "acetyl" plus the chemical ending "-ene," first used by the chemist Marcellin Berthelot.

From Old French as, from Latin as, assis, meaning "a unit" or "a small copper coin" — the idea of being the "one" or top unit carried over into cards and skill.

An American English word imitating the sound itself.

From Russian Uzbekistan, from Persian, ultimately combining "Uzbek" with the Persian suffix -stan ("place of").

Traced through Malay back to the Sanskrit word "varuna", also historically linked to the name of the island of Borneo.

Portuguese · 1490

From Portuguese Benim, itself from an Itsekiri name for the Benin Kingdom, first recorded in the 1490s.

From Portuguese barbados ("bearded ones"), from barba ("beard") — supposedly describing the island's fig trees, whose long hanging roots looked like beards to early European sailors.