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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Latin gluten (“glue”) + -amic

Borrowed from French gambade.

From French frivole, from Latin frīvolus (“trifling, worthless”).

From frolic + -some.

From Middle English gyrnen, a metathesised form of grinnen, grennen. More at grin.

From Middle English galauntnesse, galantnesse, equivalent to gallant + -ness.

From Middle English gyng, gynge, genge, from Old English genge (“a troop, privy, company, retinue”), from Old Norse gengi, from Proto-Germanic *gangiją (“pace, walk”). Cognate with Middle Low German gink (“a going, turn, way”), Old Norse gengi (“accompaniment, entourage, help”), Icelandic gengi (“rate”). Related to Old English gengan (“to go”), from Proto-Germanic *gangijaną (“to go”). More at gang.

From function, modeled after factor.

Borrowed from Yiddish פֿרום (frum, “pious”). Related to German fromm and Dutch vroom.

From gayful + -ness.

From γελαστής (gelastḗs, “laughter”), from γελάω (geláō, “I laugh”) + -ic.

From Middle English geet skin; equivalent to goat + skin.

From Arabic الفُسطاط (al-Fusṭāṭ).

From the diminutive of the Latin glomus (gen. glomeris) meaning "ball of yarn" or "ball-shaped mass".

Borrowed from Latin furfur (“bran”) + -aceous.

From gift + -ful.

From gainstrive + -ing.

From Ancient Greek γέλωτος (gélōtos) (the genitive of γέλως (gélōs, “laughter”)) + English -logy (suffix denoting the study of a particular subject), coined by the anthropologist and linguist Edith Trager with participation from the American psychiatrist William F. Fry, Jr. (1924–2014) in March 1964.

Borrowed from Japanese 振り仮名 (furigana, “annotating kana”, literally “assigned provisional character”).

From French friperie, from Old French fripier (“to rub up and down, to wear into rags”). Compare fripper.

By folk etymology (with influence from flower) from French girofle, gilofre, from Late Latin caryophyllum, from Ancient Greek καρυόφυλλον (karuóphullon, “dried flower buds of the clove tree”).

Compound of fuzz (“befuddlement”) + nut (“head”).

From gang + -dom.

Blend of gay + racism.