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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Based on Malé Islands; from Malé, the name of the main island (from Dhivehi މާލެ (māle)) + Prakrit 𑀤𑀻𑀯 (dīva, “island”), from Sanskrit द्वीप (dvīpá).

Named after Prince Maurice of Nassau by Dutch settlers in the early seventeenth century.

Via Italian and Maltese from Arabic, ultimately from Latin Melita and Ancient Greek Melítē.

Formed from "Mongol" plus the place-name suffix "-ia."

Named after the medieval Mali Empire, a name traced to a word for "hippopotamus" in a local language.

Borrowed via French from a name recorded by Marco Polo, likely a garbled version of an Arabic place name originally referring to a different location entirely.

Ultimately from Ancient Greek Mónoikos, associated with Hercules and said to mean "he who dwells alone."

From Middle High German Luccelemburc, ultimately from Old High German elements meaning "little castle."

From Latin liber, "free," plus the place-forming suffix -ia — the country's name literally means "land of the free."

Named after the ruling Liechtenstein dynasty, whose name comes from Liechtenstein Castle in Austria — from German licht ("light, bright") and Stein ("stone"), so literally "bright stone."

From Biblical Hebrew ləḇānôn, likely related to the word for "white," probably describing the snow-capped peaks of Mount Lebanon.

From French Laos, the plural of Lao.

Coined in the 1600s by the chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, adapted from the Greek word "chaos."

From Old English nēowe/nīwe, from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz, from a very old Indo-European root meaning "new" — related to Latin novus and Greek neos.

From Old English wilcuma, literally "a person whose coming is wished for," combining will (desire) and come. The "wil-" was later reshaped into "wel-," influenced by the word "well," once people stopped connecting it to "will."

From Old English ǣrlīċ, combining ere ("before") with the adjective suffix "-ly".

From Latin colon, "a clause of a poem," from Greek kolon, "limb, clause, part of a verse" — the intestinal sense comes from a separate, similar-looking Greek word for the organ.

From Greek kómma ("piece cut off"), from kóptō ("to cut") — originally referring to a short clause or "cut" of a sentence before it named the punctuation mark itself.

Borrowed via French Cambodge and Portuguese Camboja; a doublet of Kampuchea.

From the name of Mount Kenya, about which several theories exist, including * from Kikuyu kere nyaga (“white mountain”) (because it is snow-capped) * from Kamba kii nyaa (“ostrich mountain”) * from Kikuyu kĩrĩma (“mountain”)

From the Taíno word Xaymaca, meaning roughly "land of wood and water."

From Old English Italia, from Latin Italia, possibly related to an Oscan word for "calf," suggesting "land of young bulls."

From Persian ایران (Irān), ultimately meaning "land of the Aryans," referring to the ancient Iranian peoples.

From Latin India, from Greek Indía, ultimately from the Indus river, whose name traces back to Sanskrit sindhu, "river."