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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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aereous
Origin
From Latin aer + -ous.
archy
Origin
From arch + -y.
archway
Origin
From arch + way.
adynaton
Origin
Borrowed from Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), or directly from its etymon Ancient Greek ἀδύνατον (adúnaton, “an impossibility; impracticality”), substantivized neuter singular of ἀδύνατος (adúnatos, “unable; that cannot be done, impossible”) + -ον (-on, suffix forming nouns). The word ἀδύνατος is derived from ἀ- (a-, the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + δῠνᾰτός (dŭnătós, “mighty, strong; possible, practical”) (from δῠ́νᾰμαι (dŭ́nămai, “to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility)).
altadena
Origin
From Spanish alta (“high”) + dena of Pasadena, itself of Ojibwe origin.
arboretum
Origin
Borrowed from Latin arborētum (“place with trees growing, plantation of trees”), from arbor (“tree”).
alfonzo
Origin
Variant of Alfonso.
allosexual
Origin
From allo- (“other”) + sexual. "Directed at or involving another rather than one's self" and "involving the other sex; heterosexual" are the most etymologically literal senses (regarding the latter sense, compare the structure of heterosexual), structural and semantic opposites of autosexual and isosexual. The sense "non-heterosexual" was influenced by (and had influence on) Canadian French allosexuel.
antisynchronous
Origin
From anti- + synchronous.
arread
Origin
From earlier aread, arede, from Middle English areden, from Old English ārǣdan, ārēdan (“to appoint, prepare; arrange, settle, decide; guess, prophesy, interpret, utter; read, read out, read to”), from Proto-West Germanic *uʀrādan, from Proto-Germanic *uzrēdaną (“to guess”), equivalent to a- + read or a- + rede. Cognate with German erraten (“to guess”), Gothic 𐌿𐍂𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌽 (urrēdan, “to contrive, discriminate”).
airsoft
Origin
From air + soft.
annalist
Origin
Borrowed from French annaliste, equivalent to annal + -ist.
alexius
Origin
From Latin Alexius, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξιος (Aléxios) or Ἄλεξις (Álexis, “helper, defender”).
alluvium
Origin
From Medieval Latin alluvium (“matter deposited by flowing water”), neuter of alluvius (“deposited by a river”), from Latin alluviō (“washing upon, overflowing”). See also al-.
assort
Origin
Middle French assortir.
althaea
Origin
From the genus name.
appertain
Origin
From Middle English apperteinen, apertenen, borrowed from Old French apartenir (French appartenir), from Late Latin appertinēre, from ad (“to”) + Latin pertinēre (“to reach to, belong”). More at pertain.
anumerical
Origin
From a- + numerical.
alkalizer
Origin
From alkalize + -er.
anzu
Origin
Learned borrowing from Sumerian 𒀭𒉎𒂂𒄷 (AN.IM.DUGUD^(MUŠEN) /⁠Anzû⁠/, “a mythical dragon-like bird”), origin unknown, perhaps from 𒀭 (An, “heaven”) + 𒍪 (zu, “to know”).
admixture
Origin
From Latin admixtūra, from admixtus, past participle of admisceō (“to mix in”), from misceō (“to mix”). Analyzable as ad- + mixture.
almeyda
Origin
Variant spelling of Almeida.
allegorize
Origin
From Late Middle English allegoriese, allegorisen (“to interpret (something) in a spiritual sense”), from Anglo-Norman allegorizer and Middle French allegoriser, alegoriser (“to express or interpret allegorically”) (modern French allégoriser), and from their etymon Late Latin allēgorizāre, the present active infinitive of allēgorizō (“to express or interpret allegorically”), from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓λληγορῐ́ᾱ (ăllēgorĭ́ā, “veiled language, allegory”) + Late Latin -izō (suffix forming verbs expressing resemblance or similarity). Ἀ̆λληγορῐ́ᾱ (Ăllēgorĭ́ā) is probably derived from ἀλληγορος (allēgoros, “allegorical”) (though only attested in Byzantine Greek) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns); and ἀλληγορος (allēgoros) from ᾰ̓́λλος (ắllos, “another; different”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond; other”)) + ἠγόρ- (ēgór-, the imperfect stem of ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak in the assembly; to say, speak”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming certain inflections of adjectives). By surface analysis, allegory + -ize.
apposition
Origin
From Middle English apposicioun, from Middle French apposition, from Latin appositiō, past participle of appōnere (“to put near”).