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 Latin tūber (“bump, hump, swelling”).

From the Hebrew name טוֹבִיָּה (Toviyyah, “Yahweh is good”).

From Middle English supportable, equivalent to support + -able, or possibly from Middle French supportable.

From sheet + rock.

From tread + wheel.

From tone + -al.

From strange + -ling.

From steno- (“narrow”) + -graphy.

From Middle English touchable, toucheable, equivalent to touch + -able.

From stat(e) + -ism. Doublet of etatism. First attested in c. 1600.

From un- + feasible.

Borrowed from French sobriquet (“nickname”), from Middle French soubriquet (“a chuck under the chin”).

From Middle English sobernes, sobrenesse; equivalent to sober + -ness.

Blend of swing + hip-hop.

From un- + civil.

From undaunted + -ness.

From un- + fetter.

From French uhlan, from German Uhlan, from Polish ułan, from Ottoman Turkish اوغلان (oğlan).

From Middle English *thon, from Old English þān (“moist, damp, wet; having water, watered, irrigated”), from Proto-West Germanic *þain, from Proto-Germanic *þainaz (“moist”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂- (“to melt, flow”). Cognate with Scots thane, thain (“moist, damp”). Related to thaw.

From try + hard.

Uncertain, first attested as teachie in the 1597 first quarto versions of Romeo and Juliet and Richard III. Perhaps coined by Shakespeare. Also variously derived from English tetch (“tantrum, fit of anger”); from Scots tache (“blotch, fault”); from Middle English tatch (“blemish”) &c. under influence from touchy.

From Late Latin supernumerarius (“extra soldier added to a legion; supernumerary”), from super (“above; beyond”) + numerus (“number; collection, quantity”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns or numerals). The word is analysable as super- + numeral + -ary.

From Middle French ombrage (“umbrage”), from Old French ombrage, from Latin umbrāticus (“in the shade”), from umbra (“shadow, shade”).

From squawk + -er.