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.

Browse etymology by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Recently added

From jail + bait, from the fact that statutory rape can result, for the adult committing it, in incarceration.

From job and day.

From Japanese カツ丼.

From Late Latin; equivalent to interrogate + -ory (“pertaining to”), or more distantly inter- + rogatory.

From invocation + -al.

Borrowed from Hebrew כַּשְׁרוּת (kashrut).

Contraction of jillet (“a giddy girl, a jill-flirt”).

Borrowed from French incandescence. Morphologically incandesce + -ence.

From insightful + -ness.

Borrowed from Yiddish כּשרן (kashern), from כּשר (kosher, “kosher”).

See intumescent.

Variant of Keeley.

From in- + compact.

Old French, the name of the queen who fell in love with Tristan in medieval romance Tristan and Iseult, perhaps from Celtic, of uncertain meaning, possibly Proto-Brythonic *Adsiltia (“she who is gazed upon”); compare Welsh syllu and Irish súil. Otherwise from Germanic, equivalent to Old High German is (“ice”) + hiltja (“battle”) (from Proto-West Germanic *hildi).

Variant of Keeley.

From Middle English impulsioun, from Old French impulsion, from Latin impulsio, impulsionem.

From invalidate + -ion or in- + validation.

From Latin intempestīvus, from in- + tempestīvus (“seasonable”).

From Middle French inconsidérable. By surface analysis, in- + considerable.

Learned borrowing from Latin inquiētūdō.

Borrowed from Spanish jagua.

From keg + -ful.

From Latin iocōsus (“humorous”), from iocus (“jest, joke”).

From Arabic جَرْبُوع (jarbūʕ) or يَرْبُوع (yarbūʕ). Doublet of gerbil.