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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Borrowed from Medieval Latin bursa (“purse”), from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa); compare purse and bourse, which are doublets.

From French bonbonnière, from bonbon + -ière.

From cannula + -ize (suffix forming verbs indicating the doing of what is denoted by the adjectives or nouns to which the suffix is attached).

From Afrikaans bontebok, from Dutch bontebok (literally “motley goat”).

From calf + -ling.

From board, which is also a less common variant of bord; probably from the former practice of laying boards in mine passageways to form a relatively smooth surface along which the coal was dragged in sledges.

From Middle English bibben (whence bib; see there for more) + -le.

Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar.

From capture + -er.

From bird + brained.

Learned borrowing from Middle English bōte (“advantage, benefit, profit; relief, salvation; atonement, amends, expiation; cure”), from Old English bōt (“help, relief, advantage, remedy; compensation for an injury or wrong; (peace) offering, recompense, amends, atonement, reformation, penance, repentance”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōtu, from Proto-Germanic *bōtō (“recompense”). Doublet of boot (inherited from the same Middle English word).

Inherited from Middle English burgage, from Old French bourgage and Medieval Latin burgāgium; equivalent to burg + -age.

From Bruce + -ie.

Inherited from Middle English blessednesse, equivalent to blessed + -ness.

From be- + soothe.

From bio- + film. First used in the early 1970s in the context of wastewater treatment.

From Scottish Gaelic.

From bollard + -ing.

From Middle English bistillen, bystillen (“to silence”), equivalent to be- + still. Perhaps and alteration of earlier Middle English istillen, ȝestillen (“to make still, calm”), from Old English ġestillan (“to calm, quieten, pacify, stop”).

From capture + -ee.

From Latin calx + -ite.

Blend of bro (“male comrade or friend”) + relationship.

From Middle English blodleten, from Old English blōdlǣtan (“to let blood, bleed”), equivalent to blood + let. Cognate with German Blutlassen (“bloodletting”), Icelandic blóðlátinn (“bled”, past participle).

From bigot + -ness.