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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antenarratology

From ante- + narratology.

Borrowed from Italian antipasto (“[food] before the meal”). Doublet of antepast.

From advowry, variant of avowry, + -er. Compare Middle English avouer (“patron, protector”), from avowen (“avow”), and avouwe, avowe (“patron, protector”), from Old French avoue.

From the name of the city of Ankara in Turkey, from Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura, “anchor”).

From air + dock.

From Middle English aundire, aundiren, from Old French andier (possibly from Gaulish anderon (“heifer”)) compare Welsh anner, annair (“heifer”), Breton annoar (“heifer”), from Proto-Celtic *anderā (“young woman”), due either to their somewhat animal-like appearance of four legs or to the prominent figuring of bull and heifer design elements; compare its alternative names of fire-dog and dog-iron. Spelling influenced by iron.

From alms + woman.

From artillery + -man.

From oblique stem of Ancient Greek ἄλειφαρ (áleiphar, “oil, ointment”) + -ic.

From anti- + fragile.

From amphibia + -ology.

A feminine form of Alan; variant spelling of Alana. Compare also Alannah.

From arm + -let. Compare frontlet.

From Middle English apās (“step by step, slowly; quickly, rapidly; at once, promptly”), from Old French à pas (“at a quick pace”).

From aid + man.

Presumably from Hebrew עכו״ם (an acronym for the phrase עובד כוכבים ומזלות "worshiper of stars and constellations"), pronounced as a word.

From Middle English alighten, from a merger of Old English ālīhtan (“to alight, dismount”), from prefix ā- (compare Gothic 𐌿𐍃- (us-), German er- originally meaning "out") + līhtan (“to alight”); and Old English ġelīhtan (“to alight, approach, come, come down, dismount”); equivalent to alight + -en.

From Latin arborēscēns, present active participle of arborēscō (“become a tree”). First attested around 1675. The philosophical sense refers to the way genealogy trees are drawn.

From Latin Adria, Hadria. Compare Adriatic.

From Latin ariolor, hariolor, hariolus.

From allo- + -graph.

From Middle English anent, anentes, anempt (“insofar as, inasmuch as, in comparison with, with respect to, as regards, concerning, in the opinion or judgment of; next to, close to, up to, near, adjoining, across from, over against, facing”), from Old English on efn (“by; near”), from on + efn. Compare Dutch neven, German neben.

From Latin archangelicus + -al. By surface analysis, arch- + angelical or archangel + -ical.

Inherited from Middle English antecessour, from Anglo-Norman antecessour, Middle French antecesseur, or their etymon Latin antecessor, a compound of ante + cedo + -tor; thus a doublet of ancestor.