Etymology — The origins of English words

UK 1960s. Unclear origin; one explanation is that it was borrowed from Angloromani yuser (“clean”, verb) and yusher (“clear”, verb), from Angloromani yus-, yuz-, yuzh- (“clean”) and yush- (“clear”), from Romani žuž-, už- (“clean”, adjective) (also compare Hindi उज्ज्वल (ujjval, “bright”)), but this has been seen as problematic. Another theory is that the term is instead an "expressive formation" similar to whoosh and swish. The South African sense reportedly comes from a regional pronunciation of "Jewish", alluding to the high reputation of Jewish tailors at the time, but this has also been considered unlikely. All senses originated around the same time, with the first attributed use of the noun in 1968 and the verb in 1970.

The origin of the slang word zaddy, an assibilation of daddy, is unclear. Urban Dictionary has numerous, usually similar user definitions of zaddy with the earliest going back to June 17, 2008 by a user by the name of Josette as follows: "The slang term for a really "handsome" guy who is very appealing and looks really fashionable. He has to have swag and sex appeal and look sexy and attractive", this meaning is the most common. Other published instances of the word only become more frequent around 2018 but perhaps influenced by by American rapper Ty Dolla Sign's 2016 song by the same name.

(programming slang): Originated on The Daily WTF, a humorous blog dealing with real-world examples of bad programming.

From Hindi ज़नाना (zanānā), Urdu زنانه (zanānah), from Classical Persian زنانه (zanāna, “womanly”), from زن (zan, “woman”). Related to Old English cwene (“woman”). More at quean.

From word + -meal (suffix denoting an amount, fixed number, or measure at a time).

Inherited from Old English wīþiġ.

From wink (“blinking of only one eye”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

From Middle English yolpen, of imitative origin.

Imitative, perhaps from/suggested by yap/yammer + chatter. Cognate with Scots yatter, yater (“to nag, chide”), Norwegian Nynorsk jaddre (“to jabber”).

Borrowed from Dharug wumara.

From Middle English wittynesse, equivalent to witty + -ness.

From Hebrew יַרְדֵּן (yardén, “Jordan”). Doublet of Jordan.

From wont (“custom, habit”) + -ish.

From wonder + worker.

From wort + lore.

From youth + -less.

From *wift + -y. First element is of unknown origin.

From Middle English wyndlas, wyndelas, wyndlasse, wyndelasse, probably an alteration (due to Middle English windel) of Middle English windas, wyndas, wyndace, from Anglo-Norman windase, windeis and Old Northern French windas (compare Old French guindas, Medieval Latin windasius, windasa), from Old Norse vindáss (“windlass”, literally “winding-pole”), from vinda (“to wind”) + áss (“pole”). Compare Icelandic vindilass.

From yank + -er.

From Old English Winterburna < winter + burna (“stream”), 'the stream that flows in winter'.

From young + -some.

From German Zwieback, from zwie- (“twi-, two-”) + backen (“to bake”) (i.e. “twice-baked”), a calque of Italian biscotto (but not to be confused with it).

From worksome + -ness.

Variant of Yardley.