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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By surface analysis, cerule + -escent.

From Clio (“the Muse of history”) + -metrics.

Variant of Kearns or Cairns.

From Middle English chesible, from Old French chesible, from Late Latin casubla, an alteration of Latin casula (“little cottage, hooded cloak”), a diminutive of casa (“house”).

From clamor + -ous; compare Latin clāmōrōsus and French clamoreux (obsolete), from Latin clāmōrem.

From Latin centaurus, from Ancient Greek κένταυρος (kéntauros, “centaur”). Doublet of centaur.

First attested in 1874; from Latin cerebrum (“brain”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix); likely a back-formation from cerebration.

Clipping of chimpanzee.

Apparent onomatopoeia from these birds' calls having a distinctive “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” sound, possibly influenced by chick or chicken.

From Chink + -land.

Latin clāmāns, present participle of clāmō (“yell”). Doublet of claimant.

A rare spelling variant of Carly.

From Chinook + -an.

From French causerie.

Borrowed from Catalan castell. Doublet of cashel, castellum, castle, and château.

From the genus name.

From Middle English chateleyn, from Middle French chatelaine, from Old French chastelein and castelain (“castellan”), from chastel and castel (“castle”) + -ain (“-an: forming adj.”), from Medieval Latin castellum, from Latin castrum (“fort”) + -ellum (“-elle: forming diminutives”). Doublet of Castilian, castellano, castellanus, and castellan.

From the Russian pronunciation of ЧК (ČK), abbreviation of Чрезвыча́йная Коми́ссия (Črezvyčájnaja Komíssija, “extraordinary commission”).

From Middle English circumcisen, from Old French circumciser (modern French circoncire) and its etymon Latin circumcīsus, the past participle of circumcīdō (“cut around”), from circum (“about, around; through”) + caedō (“cut, hew”).

From Spanish cimarrón (“feral; maroon”).

From cat + -ly. Compare catlike.

Borrowed from Italian castello.

From centre + -oid. From 1844, used as a replacement for the older terms "centre of gravity" and "centre of mass" in situations described in purely geometrical terms, and subsequently used for further generalisations.