Etymology — The Origins of English Words

codicology

Origin

Borrowed from French codicologie (with ending adapted to -ology), from Latin cōdic- (stem of cōdex) + French -ologie.

chophouse

Origin

From chop + house. For Chinese customs sense, see chop (“quality”).

cirrostratus

Origin

From cirro- + stratus, coined by the British chemist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard (1772–1864): see the 1803 quotation.

claustration

Origin

From Latin clōstra (“lock, enclosure”).

cheapass

Origin

From cheap + -ass.

catsit

Origin

From cat + sit, by analogy with babysit.

chicha

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish chicha, from Kuna chichab (“corn”).

chaldee

Origin

From Latin chaldaeus via Middle French Chaldee.

cockblock

Origin

Rhyming compound of cock + block; likely a back-formation from cockblocker. First use appears c. 1972. See cite below.

catamenia

Origin

From New Latin catamenia, from Ancient Greek καταμήνια (katamḗnia), the neuter plural of καταμήνιος (katamḗnios, “monthly”), from κατά (katá) + μήν (mḗn, “month”). First attested in 1750.

charbon

Origin

Borrowed from French charbon (“coal; anthrax”).

cartonful

Origin

From carton + -ful.

cockshut

Origin

From Middle English cockshoot or a compound of cock (noun) + shut (verb).

childermas

Origin

From Childermas-Day, from Middle English Childermasse day, from Old English Ċildamæsse dæg, from ċilda (“children's”) + mæsse (“mass, religious service”) + dæġ (“day”), equivalent to childer + -mas.

chinesian

Origin

From Chinese + -ian, q.v.

castellum

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin castellum. Doublet of cashel, castell, castle, and château.

chavista

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish chavista.

clodpate

Origin

From clod + pate.

celest

Origin

From Latin caelestis (“heavenly”), probably via French céleste, from caelum (“sky, heavens, Heaven”).

chaldean

Origin

From Latin chaldaeus [from Ancient Greek Χαλδαῖος (Khaldaîos)] + -an.

cnidarian

Origin

From translingual Cnidaria + -an, derived from New Latin Cnīdāria, derived from Ancient Greek κνῑ́δη (knī́dē, “sea nettle”).

coadjutor

Origin

From Middle English coadjutowre, from Old French coadjuteur, borrowed from Late Latin coadiūtōrem, from co- + adiūtor (“helper”), from adiuvō (“to help”) + -tor (agent suffix). By surface analysis, co- + adjutor. The French derivation gave the accentuation co⁠ˈadjutor (used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge), but the poets generally, since 1600, appear to have coa⁠ˈdjutor, after Latin. No Latin *coadiuvō or *coadiūtō is recorded, but in the modern languages words have been formed on these types, suggested by coadjutor.

chare

Origin

From Middle English chare, variant (due to the verb form charen) of char, cher (“a turn”), from Old English ċierr, ċerr (“a turn, change, time, occasion, affair, business”), from Proto-Germanic *karzijaną (“to turn, sweep”), from Proto-Indo-European *gers- (“to turn, bend”). More at char.

chanter

Origin

From Middle English chauntour, from Old French chanteor, from Latin cantor; equivalent to chant + -er. Compare French chanteur. Doublet of cantor.