Etymology — The Origins of English Words

First attested in 1614. From Latin acclīvitās, from acclīvis (“ascending”), from ad + clīvus (“slope”).

Borrowed from Bengali আড্ডা (aḍḍa).

From Latin abaculus, diminutive of abacus.

From Middle English ajugen, adjugen, from Old French ajugier, from Latin adiudicare. Doublet of adjudicate.

A shortening of the chemical name para-acetylaminophenol. By surface analysis, acet- + amino- + -phen.

From Hebrew עָדָה (adá, “Adah”, literally “ornament, dawn”).

From Middle English whelmen (“to turn over, capsize; to invert, turn upside down”), perhaps from Old English *hwealmnian, a variant of *hwealfnian, from hwealf (“arched, concave, vaulted; an arched or vaulted ceiling”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwalb, from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (“arch, vault”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve”). Cognates The English word is cognate with Dutch welven (“to arch”), Old Saxon bihwelvian (“to cover, hide”), German wölben (“to bend, curve, arch”), Icelandic hvelfa (“to overturn”), German Walm (“a vaulted roof”), Icelandic hvolf (“vaulted ceiling”), Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, hollow, gulf”). The noun is derived from the verb.

From the Ancient Greek ἀκρότομος (akrótomos, “having the top cut off”) + φιλία (philía).

From un- + mount.

Learned borrowing from Latin accipiēns (“receiving”, stem: accipient-), the present active participle of accipiō (“to receive”), whence accept.

Borrowed from French vélocipède, from Latin velox (“swift”) + pes (“foot”).

From warrant + -or.

Borrowed from French verve (“animation; caprice, whim; rapture; spirit; vigour; type of expression”), probably from Late Latin verva, a variant of Latin verba (“words; discourse; expressions; language”), the plural of verbum (“word”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to say, speak”). Doublet of verb and word.

From abridge + -ed.

From Middle English wrecchednesse; equivalent to wretched + -ness.

From up- + solve.

From work + -mate.

Partial calque of German Abreagierung, from ab (“away from”) + Reagierung (“reaction”).

From Middle English abaciste, from Medieval Latin abacista, from abacus + -ista (“-ist”).

From wash + rag.

From Middle English ȝameren, ȝaumeren, yemeren, ȝomeren, from Old English ġeōmrian (“to lament”), from Proto-West Germanic *jāmarōn, from Proto-Germanic *jēmarōną (“to show misery or sadness”), from Proto-Germanic *jēmaraz (“miserable, sorrowful, sad”), from Proto-Indo-European *yem- (“to hold, match, defeat”). Reinforced by cognate Middle Dutch jammeren (modern Dutch jammeren), from the same ultimate origin. Cognate also with Scots yammer, Saterland Frisian jammerje, West Frisian jammerje, German Low German jammern, German jammern, Danish jamre, Norwegian jamre. Compare also Old Norse amra (“to howl, wail, yammer”).

See acetous.

From aberr (“to stray”), from Latin aberrō (“to wander from the way”) + -ance.

From above + said.