Etymology — The Origins of English Words

From Irish Brighid, from Old Irish Brigit, from Proto-Celtic *Brigantī (“high, exalted”).

From butt + licker.

Portmanteau of blowjob + dump, with added suffix -kin in imitation of pumpkin; also compare words like munchkin and ciderkin.

From Scots bock, attested from the 16th century.

From Medieval Latin bombināre (“buzz, hum”), variant of Latin bombilō, from Ancient Greek βομβυλιάζειν (bombuliázein), from βόμβος (bómbos, “booming, humming”), of imitative origin.

From Middle English bocchere, bochchare, equivalent to botch + -er.

From breast + shot.

From Middle English besme, beseme, from Old English besma, besema (“besom, broom, rod”), from Proto-West Germanic *besmō (“broom”).

From Middle English bignesse (“size”), equivalent to big + -ness.

From Scottish Gaelic blàr (“field, plain”).

From Middle English betternes. Equivalent to better + -ness.

From buffalo + back, modelled on horseback.

Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi बुरक़ा (burqā) / Urdu بُرْقَع (burqa')), from Classical Persian بُرْقَع (burqa'), from Arabic بُرْقُع (burquʕ).

From candle + lit.

From brickbat (noun) + -ing.

Perhaps from French caillette (“a frivolous gossip”), or Irish caile (“girl”).

From bewater + -ed.

From be- (“about, concerning”) + talk.

From bother + -ation (suffix indicating an action or process, or its result).

Probably a blend of bleck + blatch.

From Middle English brembel, from Old English bræmbel, from earlier brǣmel, brēmel, from dialectal Proto-West Germanic *brāmil, diminutive of *brām (English broom).

Borrowed from Italian campanile (“bell tower, belfry”), from campana (“bell”) + -ile (suffix forming nouns indicating locations that host animals or objects). Campana is derived from Late Latin and Medieval Latin campāna (“large bell used in late classical or medieval church towers or steeples; tower for such a bell, belfry, campanile”), and then either: * traditionally regarded to be from Latin Campāna (“region of Campania, Italy”) (because bells were supposedly introduced in Christian services in Nola, a diocese of Campania, by Saint Paulinus (c. 354 – 431), though the story has been discredited), from Campānus (“relating to the region of Campania, Italy, or its inhabitants, Campanian”), from campus (“field, plain”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives, which are sometimes used as nouns); or * from Ancient Greek καπάνη (kapánē, “felt helmet”) (apparently because of the similarity in shape). The plural form campanili is derived from Italian campanili.

Borrowed from New Latin capsicum, from Ancient Greek καψικός (kapsikós, “like a box”), from Latin capsa (“box”).

From Latin *cadentia.