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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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] From Middle English Chauntecleer, from Old French Chantecler (modern French Chanteclair), the proper name of the cock in the literary cycle of Reynard the Fox, that also gave origin to chantecler, the name of a chicken breed; from chanter (“to sing, to crow”) + cler (“clear, clearly”). Attested in English since 1250–1300.

Borrowed from French carillon.

From Latin castoreum, from Ancient Greek καστόριον (kastórion).

Borrowed from Malay kasuari.

From circulate + -ive.

From cliff + drop.

Borrowed from French clairvoyance.

Back-formation from chamfering, from Middle French chanfrain, from Middle French, Old French chanfraindre, possibly a compound of chant (“corner”), from Latin canthus (of either Celtic or Latin origin) + fraindre (“to break”), from frangō (“to break”).

Borrowed from Latin cicatrix.

Borrowed from Hebrew חָבֵר (chavér, “friend”). Doublet of gabber.

From Welsh Carus, Carys, from caru (“love”).

From Middle English Claytone, Cleyton, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”) + Old English tūn (“enclosure, settlement; town”). Analyzable as clay + -ton.

From check + box.

From Middle French cession, from Latin cessionem, from past participle of cēdere (“to yield”). By surface analysis, cede + -sion.

From climate + -ory.

From catechetic + -al.

Learned borrowing from New Latin cellulitis. By surface analysis, cellule + -itis. Doublet of cellulite. First attested in the 1840s.

From celebrate + -or.

Perhaps from nineteenth-century Romani chavo (“child or youth”). Compare charver, chav.

From Middle English cathecumynys pl, from Middle French cathecumin (modern French catéchumène) or Ecclesiastical Latin catēchūmenus, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek κατηχούμενος (katēkhoúmenos, “being instructed”), present participle passive of κατηχέω (katēkhéō, “sound through, instruct orally, catechise”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἠχή (ēkhḗ, “sound”).

From French centilitre; equivalent to centi- + litre.

Derived from Latin catēchizāre, from Ancient Greek κατηχίζω (katēkhízō), from κατηχέω (katēkhéō, “to teach (orally)”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἠχέω (ēkhéō, “to sound, to resound”).

Shitgibbon compound of cock + waffle.

From cock (“male bird”) + chafer (“beetle”). The Oxford English Dictionary speculates that the name may relate to a resemblance of antennae to coxcomb, or to the beetle’s size. Compare French hanneton (“cockchafer”), ultimately from Frankish *hanō (“rooster”). First attested in the late 17th century.