Etymology — The Origins of English Words

wellspring

Origin

From Middle English wellespring, from Old English wiellspring, wiellġespring (“spring, fount, fountain”), corresponding to well + spring. More at well, spring.

unspeaking

Origin

From un- + speaking.

aborticide

Origin

From abortion + -cide (“killing; killer”).

abrahan

Origin

From American Spanish Abrahán. Doublet of Abraham.

whiffle

Origin

1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”, as whiff + -le (“(frequentative)”) and (onomatopoeia) sound of wind, particularly a leaf fluttering in unsteady wind; compare whiff. Sense “something small or insignificant” is from 1680.

untruthful

Origin

From un- + truthful. Compare Middle English untreuthfull, untrowþeful, wntreuthtfull (“unbelieving, infidel”).

wallboard

Origin

From wall + board.

accoucheur

Origin

Attested since 1727. Borrowed from French accoucheur, from accoucher (“to go to childbed, be delivered”), from Old French culcher (“to lie”), from Latin collocō (“to place, put, set in order, assign”), from con- + locō (“to put, place, set”). See accouchement.

abash

Origin

Attested from 1303, as Middle English abaisen, abaishen, abashen (“lose one's composure, be upset”), from the later 14th-century also transitive "to make ashamed, to perplex or embarrass"; from Anglo-Norman abaïss, from Middle French abair, abaisser (“lose one's composure, be startled, be stunned”), from Old French esbaïr, (French ébahir), from es- (“utterly”) + baïr (“to astonish”), from Medieval Latin *exbadō, from ex- (“out of”) + bado (“to gape, yawn”), an onomatopoeic word imitating a yawn, see also French badaud (“rubbernecker”).

witful

Origin

From Middle English witful (“wise; sagacious; cunning; ingenious”), equivalent to wit + -ful.

unlearnt

Origin

From un- (“not”) + learnt.

urinator

Origin

From Latin ūrīnātor (“diver”), from ūrīnārī + -tor (suffix forming a (masculine) agent noun). Ūrīnārī is the present active infinitive of ūrīnor (“to plunge under water, dive”), possibly from ūrīna (“urine; water (?)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer- (“to moisten; to flow”).

ablepsia

Origin

From Ancient Greek ἀβλεψία (ablepsía, “blindness”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + βλέπω (blépō, “see”).

wantwit

Origin

From Middle English wanten wit, equivalent to want + wit.

unthankful

Origin

From Middle English unthankful, from Old English unþancful, unþancfull, unġeþancfull (“unthankful, ungrateful”), equivalent to un- + thankful. Cognate with Old High German undankfol (“unthankful, ungrateful”).

abbee

Origin

Shortening.

wontly

Origin

From wont + -ly.

veridical

Origin

From Latin veridicus (“truly said”), from verus (“true”) and dīcō (“to say”).

wisecracker

Origin

From wisecrack + -er.

wiggler

Origin

From wiggle + -er.

achesome

Origin

From ache + -some.

vikki

Origin

20th-century fanciful respelling of Vicky.

abased

Origin

From abase + -ed.

wanse

Origin

From Middle English wansen (“to decrease, diminish”), from Old English wansian (“to diminish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wansōn, a variant of *wanisōn, from Proto-Germanic *wanisōną (“to lessen”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”). Cognate with Old Norse vansa (“to do too little, suffer loss”), Old Norse vansi (“lack, want”). More at wane.