Etymology — The origins of English words

From Middle English footmele, fotmelen, from Old English fōtmǣlum (“step by step, by degrees”), dative plural of Old English fōtmǣl (“a foot-measure, one foot”), equivalent to foot + -meal.

From flavor + -er.

From fore- + math (“a mowing”), by analogy with aftermath.

From Flores + -ville, named after the Flores de Abrego family.

A variant of flake (noun, verb).

From flood + plain.

From fore- + shorten.

From fore- + spell. Compare Dutch voorspellen (“to predict”).

From Middle English foolhardynesse; equivalent to foolhardy + -ness.

From flabbergast + -er.

From fidgety + -ness.

Borrowed from French fontanelle, from Old French fontenelle, a diminutive of fontaine (“fountain, spring”) + -elle, from Late Latin fontāna, from Latin fontānus, from font- + -ānus. By surface analysis, font + -an + -elle.

From Middle English feondscipe, from Old English fēondsċiepe, from Proto-West Germanic *fijandskapi, equivalent to fiend + -ship.

From Middle English *foredemen, from Old English foredēman (“to prejudge”), equivalent to fore- + deem.

Variant spelling of Forbes.

Rare spelling variant of Fitzhugh.

From Middle English forswarten, equivalent to for- + swart.

From French flâneur (“loafer, idler, dawdler, loiterer”).

From film + -ic. Doublet of filmy.

From fore- (prefix meaning ‘positioned at or near the front’) + hold (“the cargo area of an aircraft or ship”). Hold is a variant of hole (influenced by hold (verb)), from Middle English hole, hol (“perforation, hole; cave, cavern; hiding place, shelter; cell, compartment”), from Old English hol (“hole (in the ground)”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (“hollow”), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“depression, hollow; hole”), from Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”); further etymology uncertain, possibly either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”) or *ḱewh₁- (“to be strong; to swell”).

Borrowed from German Föhn, from Old High German phonno, from Vulgar Latin faōnius, an alteration of Latin favōnius (“west wind”), from Favōnius (“Roman wind god”).

Borrowed from Latin fissilis.

From fluoro- + -phore.

From fish + -ify.