Etymology — The Origins of English Words

shipper

Origin

Either formed anew from ship + -er or borrowed from Middle Low German schipper; compare skipper and Old English sċipere (“sailor”). Piecewise doublet of skipper (“captain, sailor”).

stagy

Origin

From stag(e) + -y.

permissive

Origin

From French permissif.

stupefaction

Origin

From Middle French stupéfaction, from Latin stupefaciō (“strike dumb, stun with amazement, stupefy”), from stupeō (“to be stunned, speechless”) (English stupid, stupor) + faciō (“to do, make”).

cheapie

Origin

From cheap + -ie.

fatuous

Origin

From Latin fatuus (“foolish, silly, simple”).

yearling

Origin

From Middle English yerling, yerlyng, equivalent to year + -ling. Cognate with Dutch jaarling (“yearling”), German Jährling (“yearling”).

unbeliever

Origin

From un- + believer, perhaps a corruption of earlier wanbeliever (“unbeliever”).

graceless

Origin

From Middle English graceles; equivalent to grace + -less.

nesh

Origin

From Middle English nesh, nesch, nesche, from Old English hnesċe, hnysċe, næsċe (“soft, tender, mild; weak, delicate; slack, negligent; effeminate, wanton”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwī, from Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“soft, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Cognate with Scots nesch, nesh (“soft, tender, yielding easily to pressure, sensitive”), Dutch nesch, nes (“wet, moist”), Gothic 𐌷𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌵𐌿𐍃 (hnasqus, “soft, tender, delicate”). Compare also nask, nasky, nasty.

languorous

Origin

From Middle French langoreux.

gradation

Origin

Borrowed from French gradation. By surface analysis, grade + -ation.

blackball

Origin

From black + ball.

backwash

Origin

From back + wash.

totter

Origin

From Middle English totren, toteren, from earlier *tolteren (compare dialectal English tolter (“to struggle, flounder”); Scots tolter (“unstable, wonky”)), from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate”), from Proto-Germanic *taltrōną, a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *taltōną (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”). Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), Norwegian dialectal totra (“to quiver, shake”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Related to tilt.

unhallow

Origin

From un- + hallow.

allowable

Origin

From Middle English allowable, alowable, a borrowing from Old French alouable (Modern French allouable), from allouer, equivalent to allow + -able.

burgeon

Origin

From Middle English burjounen, from Old French borjoner, bourjoner, burjuner.

solicitude

Origin

From Middle English solicitude, from Old French sollicitude, from Latin sollicitūdō (“anxiety”), from sollicitus, solicitus (“anxious, solicitous”). See solicitous.

unbend

Origin

From Middle English unbenden, equivalent to un- + bend.

sentience

Origin

From sentient, from Latin sentiēns, present participle of sentiō (“feel, sense”). Compare with sentence, its equivalent formation from Classic Latin sententia (for *sentientia).

skimming

Origin

From skim + -ing.

germane

Origin

A variant form of german (“having the same parents; related”), adapted in this sense in allusions to its use in Shakespeare's Hamlet (see quotations at germaine).

massotherapist

Origin

From masso- + therapist.