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, 13th century. Uncertain but may derive from Anglo-Norman habertas (“small goods”).

From Ancient Greek ἅλς (háls, “salt”), + -ite.

The "nonsense" sense, a euphemism for horseshit, is horse + feathers, a nonexistent item as only birds have feathers. Compare hen’s teeth. The "horse hair" sense notes the similarity of that hair to bird feathers. Regarding the roofing sense, compare feathering strip and horsefeathers.

From Somali xarunta.

From hierarchy + -ical; compare French hiérarchique.

From hippopotamus + -ine.

From hang + bird.

From Latin hiemālis (“pertaining to winter”), from hiems (“winter”). More at hibernate.

From grave + robber.

From Middle English gossiprede, gossybrede, godsibrede, from Old English godsibbrǣden (“sponsorial obligations”), equivalent to gossip + -red.

From Hodge, a Middle English diminutive of the given name Roger + -kin.

Borrowed from Korean 한자(漢字) (hanja), from Middle Chinese 漢字 (MC xanH dziH, “Chinese character”, literally “Han Chinese + character”). Compare Cantonese 漢字 /汉字 (hon³ zi⁶), Japanese 漢字 (kanji), Mandarin 漢字 /汉字 (hànzì), Vietnamese Hán tự. Doublet of kanji and Hanzi.

From Anglo-Norman empaneller.

From halo- + (pi)perid(ine) + -ol. By surface analysis, halo- + -peridol.

From Middle English graundame, from Old French grant dame. Doublet of grande dame.

From hypnotize + -er.

From Middle English *Islandish, *Islondisch, equivalent to Iceland + -ish. Compare Dutch IJslands, German Isländisch, Danish islandsk, Icelandic íslenskur.

Borrowed from Middle French hostie, from Latin hostia.

From Medieval Latin hermeticus, irregular derivation of Hermes Trismegistus, the god and mythological alchemist, said to possess a magic ability to seal treasure chests so that nothing could access their contents.

From Middle English hauteynesse, hautenesse, from Middle English hautein (“proud, haughty”), from Old French hautain + Middle English -nesse. Reanalysed in Modern English as haughty + -ness.

From head + pin.

From hat(e) + -able.

From Hoover + -ize, named after Herbert Hoover, who, as head of the Food and Drug Administration during World War I, encouraged Americans to ration food. Apparently coined in the poem reproduced below.