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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 de- + (ac)celeration.

From Old French ensorceler (“to cast a spell, enchant; to captivate”), a variant of ensorcerer, from en- (prefix meaning ‘caused’) + sorcier (“sorcerer”) (ultimately from Latin sors (“fate, lot; oracular response”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind”)).

From Old English ǣfensang, equivalent to even + song. The use of even to mean evening is now obsolete except in poetry.

From Late Latin discontinuitās, from discontinuus, equivalent to dis- + continuity.

From Latin cēnsōrius (“of or pertaining to a censor; severe”). In sense 3 ("tending to engage in or support censorship"), reanalyzed as censor + -ious.

From Middle English bethenken, bithenchen (“to think about, consider”) from Old English beþenċan, biþenċan (“to think upon, remind, consider, remember”), from Proto-Germanic *biþankijaną; equivalent to be- + think. Akin to Old High German pidenchan (German bedenken), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (biþagkjan), Dutch bedenken.

From gate + crasher.

Probably inherited from Northern Middle English *berghgast, *barghgast, from bergh, bargh (“barrow”) + gast (“ghost”). Alternative hypotheses that first element is burgh (“town”) or bere (“bear”) lack semantic motivation.

From Old French contumelie, from Latin contumēlia (“insult”), perhaps from com- + tumeō (“swell”).

Latin diluens, from diluere. See dilute.

Uncertain. Possibly from dialectal English doddle (“to toddle, to sway, to nod drowsily”).

From Middle English becharmen, bicharmen, equivalent to be- (“on, upon”) + charm.

From Middle English diabolik, from Middle French diabolique, from Late Latin diabolicus, from Ancient Greek διαβολικός (diabolikós, “devilish”), from διάβολος (diábolos, “devil”). First attested in 1350–1400.

Borrowed from Middle French fatuité.

From earlier ingraft, equivalent to en- (“in”) + graft.

Since 1833, from American English. Unknown origin, probably a fanciful alteration of corruption etc., or maybe related to captious.

From Middle English bithumen, bitumen, from Latin bitūmen. Doublet of bitume.

From Middle English forgabben (“to mock”), equivalent to for- (“destructively, harmfully”) + gab.

From Middle English divinour, from Latin dīvīnātor (“diviner; fortune-teller; soothsayer”), from dīvīnāre (“to foresee, to foretell”). Doublet of divinator. Equivalent to divine + -er.

From Ancient Greek ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos). Doublet of astragalus.

From foot + slog.

From de- + register.

From Medieval Latin discōnsōlātus (“comfortless”), from dis- (“away”) + cōnsōlātus (“consoled”).

First attested in late Middle English circa 1425; from the French décerner, from the Latin dēcernō (“to decide, pronounce a decision”), from dē (“of, from, away from”) + cernō (“to separate, distinguish”), whence the English cern. In Old French, the forms of décerner were frequently conflated with those of descerner, discerner; the two verbs were not clearly distinguished until the 16th century; hence, in English also, decern is found with the sense discern.