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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Alternative transliteration of Arabic إِبْرَاهِيم (ʔibrāhīm), as a patronymic surname.

Likely from Old Norse edda (“great-grandmother”).

Latin exaestuatio.

From dunce + -ical.

From dust + -man, as household refuse previously consisted largely of ashes (dust) from domestic fires.

From fair + bank.

From epoch + -al.

From explain + -er.

1813 eaves-trough, 1817 eave trough, 1870 eavestrough, from eaves + trough.

From the addition of kin or ken, a pejorative form of house, to some form of danna, an obsolete slang for shit.

From excite + -ful.

From fair (“community gathering, market”). In the sense of food, because cakes and sweets were sold at fairs.

From Latin aegritudo (“illness, sorrow”).

Alteration of faineant.

From Middle English feblenesse; equivalent to feeble + -ness.

PIE word *h₁én From em- (variant of en- (prefix with the sense ‘to bring to a certain condition or state’)) + brown (“having a brown colour”, adjective). Cognates * French embrunir * Italian imbrunire

Irregular combination of duty + -ous.

From Middle English farli, ferly, ferlich, feorlich (“a wonderful thing, a marvel, a wonder”), from Middle English farli, ferly, verlich, ferlik, ferlic, feorlic (“terrible, marvellous, wonderful”), from Old English fǣrlīċ (“sudden, unexpected, quick, horrible”), equivalent to fear + -ly. Cognate with Scots ferlie (“farlie”), Old Norse ferlíki, ferlíkan (“a monster, abnormality, monstrosity”), Old Norse ferligr (“monstrous”).

From evitable + -ity.

From Medieval Latin ēdulcōrō. Compare French édulcorer.

A variant of inflame; by surface analysis, en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + flame.

From e- + Latin pilus (“hair”) + -ate.

Borrowed from German Dummkopf.

From Medieval Latin eleēmosynārius (“alms dispenser”), from Late Latin eleēmosyna (“alms”), from Ancient Greek ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosúnē, “alms”), from ἐλεήμων (eleḗmōn, “merciful”) + -σῠ́νη (-sŭ́nē, “suffix denoting an abstract noun”). Compare Italian elemosina.