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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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bayless
Origin
From bay + -less.
backtalk
Origin
From back + talk.
baseborn
Origin
From base + born.
baragouin
Origin
Borrowed from French baragouin (“unintelligible speech or writing”).
beclap
Origin
From Middle English biclappen (“to grasp, insnare, catch, to trap suddenly, to grab suddenly”). By surface analysis, be- + clap.
bagpiper
Origin
From bagpipe + -er.
beseem
Origin
PIE word *h₁epi From Middle English bisemen (“to beseem”) [and other forms], from be-, bi- (prefix forming transitive verbs with a completive, figurative, or intensifying sense) + semen (“to seem; to be or see as appropriate; to be visible or apparent; to regard”). Semen is derived from Old Norse sœma (“to conform to; to befit, beseem”), from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną (“to fit; to unite”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; whole”). The English word is analysable as be- (prefix with an intensifying sense) + seem.
awestruck
Origin
From awe + struck.
autohomicide
Origin
From auto + homicide.
balsamy
Origin
From balsam + -y. Doublet of balsamic and balmy.
bedrench
Origin
From Middle English bidrenchen (attested in past participle bidrenkt, bidreint), equivalent to be- (“all over; completely”) + drench.
backwood
Origin
From back + wood; compare backwater.
averment
Origin
From Middle English averement, from Old French averrement, averement, from averer (Modern French avérer).
bathos
Origin
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βάθος (báthos, “depth”). Employed ironically following Alexander Pope's Peri Bathous, lampooning various errors in contemporary writers.
beechwood
Origin
From beech + wood.
bedirty
Origin
From be- + dirty.
ballerina
Origin
Borrowed from Italian ballerina.
awfulness
Origin
From Middle English aghfulnesse, equivalent to awful + -ness.
benzol
Origin
From benzo- + -ol (“oil”).
autism
Origin
Borrowed from German Autismus, coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, first usage dated to 1907 attributed by Carl Jung as an alternative of his for "auto-erotism", although Bleuler himself differentiates the terms in his book Dementia Praecox, first published 1911. From Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + -ισμός (-ismós, “-ism”).
atroke
Origin
From Middle English atrokien, atrukien (“to fail”), equivalent to a- + troke or a- + truck.
bavarois
Origin
Borrowed from French bavarois.
battey
Origin
From Batte, a Middle English pet-form of Bartholomew.
baitly
Origin
From bait (“obvious”, adjective) + -ly.