Etymology — The Origins of English Words

From Late Middle English distillen (“to fall, flow, or shed in drops, drop, trickle; to shed drops; to fill (the eyes) with tears; (alchemy, medicine) to subject (something) to distillation; to obtain (something) using distillation; to distil; to condense or vaporize; (figuratively) to give (good fortune) to; to say (slanderous words)”) [and other forms], from Old French distiller (modern French distiller (“to distil”)), and from its etymon Latin distīllāre, a variant of Latin dēstīllāre, the present active infinitive of dēstīllō (“to drip or trickle down; to distil”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘down, down from, down to’) + stīllō (“to drip, drop, trickle; to distil”) (from stīlla (“drop of liquid; (figuratively) small quantity”), probably a diminutive of stīria (“ice drop; icicle”)). Cognates * French distiller (“to distil”) * Italian distillare (“to distil”) * Occitan distillar * Portuguese destilar (“to distil; to drip”) * Spanish destilar (“to distil; to exude; to filter”)

From Malagasy drongo.

From draw + string.

From Middle English discolouren, discoloren, from Old French discolorer, descolorer, equivalent to dis- + colour.

From French désorganiser, equivalent to dis- + organize.

From Old French destemprer, from Latin distemperare.

Borrowed from Hindi ढिशूम (ḍhiśūm).

From digest + -er.

From doolally tap (“camp fever; (by extension) eccentricity; madness”), with doolally interpreted as an adjective. Doolally is derived from the Deolali transit camp, a former British army camp about 100 miles (160 kilometres) northeast of Bombay, India, used as a transit station for soldiers awaiting transport back to Britain; while tap (“Indian malarial fever”) is from Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “fever; heat; pain, torment”).

From dignify + -ation.

PIE word *h₂epó The verb is derived from Late Middle English doffen (“to take off (clothing); to remove (headwear) as a sign of respect; to remove (grease) by skimming”), a contraction of Middle English do off, don off, from Old English dōn of, from dōn (“to do; to put; to take off, remove”) + of (“from; off”). Dōn is derived from Proto-West Germanic *dōn (“to do; to place, put”), from Proto-Germanic *dōną (“to do; to make; to place, put”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”). By surface analysis, do + off. Compare don (by surface analysis, do + on), dout (do + out), dup (do + up). The noun is derived from the verb.

From Irish Domnach (“Sunday”) + each (“horse”).

From French digitigrade, from Latin digitus (“finger, toe, digit”) + -grade (“gait”); compare New Latin digitigradus.

Clipping of hydroponic.

From duck + -ish.

From Middle French distributif, from Latin distribūtīvus.

From down + -some.

From downright + -ly.

From dissolve + -er.

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English divisible, from Old French, from Late Latin divisibilis, from the verb Latin divido.

From Middle English dortour, from Old French dortoir, dortour (modern dortoir), from Latin dormitorium (“dormitory”). Doublet of dormitorium and dormitory.

From down- + clock.

From disk + -ette, by analogy with cassette.

From dole (“sorrow, grief”) + -some.