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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Formed from Switzer (an old word for a Swiss person) plus -land, adapted from German Schwytzerland in the 1500s.

From French Canada, borrowed from a Laurentian Iroquoian word kanata meaning "village" or "settlement" — originally referring to a single settlement, not the whole country.

The origin is debated: one theory links it to a Scottish pirate named Peter Wallace, whose name may have been altered through Spanish pronunciation; another traces it to a Maya word, balix or belix, meaning "muddy waters," referring to the Belize River.

From the Tswana language, formed from a prefix meaning "land of" plus "Tswana," the name of the country's major ethnic group.

Borrowed via French and Nepali, ultimately connected to a Prakrit term meaning roughly "end of Tibet."

The origin is debated — most likely from Spanish baja mar ("shallow sea"), describing the islands' shallow surrounding waters, or possibly from a Taíno phrase meaning "big upper middle land".

The country is named after brazilwood, a valuable dyewood exported from the region; the wood's name in turn comes from Portuguese brasa ("ember"), describing its glowing red colour.

Named after Simón Bolívar, the South American independence leader, whose own surname traces back to a Basque village called Bolibar.

From Arabic al-baḥrayn, literally "the two seas", referring to the fresh and salt water bodies that meet around the islands.

From Medieval Latin Bulgaria, from Bulgar, the name of the Turkic people who settled the region, + the place-name suffix -ia.

From Bengali Bangladesh, literally "the land of Bengal," combining Bangla ("Bengali") with desh ("country").

From the Latin "argentum", meaning "silver", after early Spanish explorers' hopes of finding silver there.

From Greek Armenia, from Old Persian Armina, itself an exonym for the land the Armenians call Hayk.

Traced through Medieval Latin and Byzantine Greek back to an old regional name, possibly linked to a root meaning "white" or "highland."

From Persian Afghanistan, meaning roughly "land of the Afghans" — Afghan plus the suffix -istan, "land of."

From Old English scrincan ("to shrink, wither"); the "psychiatrist" sense is a shortening of "headshrinker."

From Latin deceptivus, from decipere, "to deceive."

From "shadow" used as a verb, plus the "-ing" ending that turns actions into nouns.

From Old English tima, related to an ancient root meaning "to divide" — time was originally thought of as something divided into portions.

From Old English carful, from care + -ful ("full of").

From Old French consentir, from Latin consentire, "to agree" — com- ("with") plus sentire ("to feel").

Variant form of -um.

Borrowed from Mandarin cí.

Formed from Asia plus the suffix -an.