Etymology — The Origins of English Words

basswood

Origin

From bass (“fibrous inner bark”) + wood.

bargainer

Origin

From bargain + -er.

autochthon

Origin

From Ancient Greek αὐτόχθων (autókhthōn, “indigenous”), from αὐτός (autós, “self”) + χθών (khthṓn, “earth, soil”).

bather

Origin

From bathe + -er.

backfriend

Origin

From back (adverb or noun) + friend. Sense 3 (“person who pretends to be someone’s friend”) may allude to a person who stays back instead of coming forward to help, and so is not a true friend.

belave

Origin

From Middle English bilaven (“to wash all over”), from bi-, be- + laven (“to wash, pour water on”), equivalent to be- + lave.

athina

Origin

From Greek Αθήνα (Athína), from Ancient Greek Ἀθῆναι (Athênai). Doublet of Athens.

banjolin

Origin

Blend of banjo + mandolin.

bemuse

Origin

From be- + muse. In meaning, influenced by bemaze and later amuse.

bedhead

Origin

From bed + head. Superficially similar to, but etymologically distinguishable from, forms built from -head.

attainture

Origin

From Medieval Latin attinctūra, used to translate Old French ateint, from Vulgar Latin *attinctus (perfect passive participle of Latin attingō).

beglammer

Origin

From be- + glammer, Scottish variant of glamour (“to bewitch”), equivalent to be- + glamour.

beauly

Origin

From Old French beau + lieu.

bereave

Origin

Inherited from Middle English bireven, from Old English berēafian (“to bereave, deprive of, take away, seize, rob, despoil”), from Proto-Germanic *biraubōną, and Old English berēofan (“to bereave, deprive, rob of”); both equivalent to be- + reave. Cognate with Dutch beroven (“to rob, deprive, bereave”), German berauben (“to deprive, rob, bereave”), Danish berøve (“to deprive of”), Norwegian berøve (“to deprive”), Swedish beröva (“to rob”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌱𐍉𐌽 (biraubōn).

balkanic

Origin

From Balkan + -ic.

autochthonous

Origin

Literally, “native to the soil”; from autochthon + -ous.

benim

Origin

From Middle English benimen, from Old English beniman, from Proto-West Germanic *bineman, from Proto-Germanic *binemaną (“to take away”). Equivalent to be- (“off, away”) + nim. Compare German benehmen.

bedizen

Origin

PIE word *h₁epi From be- (intensifying prefix) + dizen (“to attire, dress, especially showily”). Dizen is derived from dialectal dize (“to put (tow) on a distaff”), probably from Middle English *disen, from Old English *disan, *disian, from *dise, *disen (“bunch of flax on a distaff”), from Proto-Germanic *disanō (“distaff”); further etymology unknown.

beebread

Origin

Probably an Early Modern English combination of bee + bread, but compare the Old English bēobrēad (“honeycomb full of honey”), and Middle English beoblæd (for beobræd?). Cognate with Old Saxon bībrōd (“honeycomb”, “gingerbread”, literally “bee-bread”).

begripe

Origin

From Middle English begripen, bigripen, from Old English begrīpan (“to grip, seize, lay hold of; chide”), from Proto-West Germanic *bigrīpan. Equivalent to be- (“around, about”) + gripe.

bedcover

Origin

From bed + cover.

benefactive

Origin

From Latin benefactus (“benefited”) plus -ive. Attested since the twentieth century.

behear

Origin

From be- (“at, about”) + hear. Cognate with Scots behere, behear (“to hear, hear our cry”), West Frisian beheare (“to administer; manage”), Dutch behoren (“to belong”).

bathometer

Origin

From batho- + -meter.