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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From bail + -er.

From beam + -some.

Borrowed from French autoclave, formed with prefix auto- + Latin clavis (“key”).

From Middle French auspice, from Latin auspicium, in turn from auspex.

Borrowed from French badinage, from the verb badiner (“jest, joke”) from badin (“playful”), from Occitan badar (“gape”). Distantly related to abash.

From aunty + -ji.

From Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”) (āter (“dark, black”) + bīlis (“bile”)) + -ary.

From Middle English avaricious, from Old French avaricieux, from avarice, from Latin avaritia (“greed”), from avarus (“greedy”), of avere (“crave, long for”).

Borrowed from French bancassurance.

From a- + slosh.

From Antilles + -ean.

Borrowed from French aspic, from Latin aspis, and possibly influenced by French basilic (“basilisk”). The culinary sense may come from association with the snake due to the traditional colors and cold temperature of aspic, in addition to the fact that the gelatin was often molded in a shape similar to a coiled snake.

From anti- + romance.

From Middle English aforesaid(e), aforeseid(e), past participle of aforesayen, aforeseyen, aforeseien, aforeseggen; formed with the prefix afore- and the several forms of seien (“to say”). Equivalent to afore- + said.

From Hebrew אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ (Akhashverósh) from Old Persian 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 (x-š-y-a-r-š-a /⁠xšayāršā⁠/, “ruler among kings”). Cognates include Xerxes from Ancient Greek Ξέρξης (Xérxēs), from the same Old Persian name.

From anti- + aliasing.

From Spanish alfilerillo, from alfiler (“pin”). The ending was assimilated to the familiar botanical suffix -aria.

From Akkadian 𒀭𒌈.

From German Aktionsart, from Aktion (“action”) + Art (“kind, sort”). Attested in English from the 19th century.

From Middle English aungelly, angely, angelich, from Old English ænġellīċ, enġellīċ, enġlelīċ (“resembling an angel; angelic”), from Proto-West Germanic *angilalīk, equivalent to angel + -ly. Compare angely.

Unadapted borrowing from Latin afflātus (“breath, blowing or breathing on, spiritual inspiration”), from afflō (“to blow, breathe on or towards”) + -tus (forming action nouns), from ad- (“to, towards”) + flō (“breathe, blow”). See also af-.

From all + mouth.

From Middle English apparancie, from Latin appārentia. Doublet of apparence and appearance.

Aqualung was the original name for the first open-circuit SCUBA diving equipment by Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau in 1943. From aqua- + lung.