Etymology — The Origins of English Words

From tram + car.

From Middle English mollen (“to soften by wetting”), borrowed from Old French moillier with the same meaning, from Vulgar Latin *molliō, *molliare, from mollis (“soft”).

From Middle English longsum, from Old English langsum (“long; taking a long time; lasting a long time; long-enduring; long-suffering”), from Proto-West Germanic *langasam (“lengthy; long-lasting; vast; extensive”), equivalent to long + -some.

First attested in 1641; borrowed from Latin incubātus, an alternative to incubitus, perfect passive participle of incubō (“to hatch”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + cubō (“to lie”).

From Middle English amelioracioun, from Middle French amelioracion and probably partly ameliorate + -ion.

From day + book. First attested in 1571. Cognate with Dutch dagboek (“diary, journal, logbook”), German Tagebuch (“diary, journal, daybook”), Danish dagbog (“diary”), Swedish dagbok (“diary, logbook, journal, daybook”).

Possibly from Latin vim, accusative singular of vīs (“force, power, strength; (New Latin) energy, force”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to chase, pursue”); compare English vis); but perhaps a modern expressive formation.

Borrowed from Late Latin ithyphallicus, from Ancient Greek ἰθυφαλλικός (ithuphallikós), from ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος (īthŭ́phallos, “phallus carried in festivals of Bacchus; ode sung in honour of the phallus; dance accompanying such an ode; dancer performing such a dance”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος is derived from ἰθῠ́ς (ithŭ́s) (variant of εὐθῠ́ς (euthŭ́s, “straight”)) + φαλλός (phallós, “penis; image of a penis, phallus”). The English word can be analysed as ithyphallus + -ic. As regards the noun, compare Latin ithyphallicum (“poem with the same metre as the hymns to Priapus”).

From Middle English apallen, from Old French apalir (“to grow pale, make pale”); a (Latin ad) + palir (“to grow pale, to make pale”), pâle (“pale”), from pallere. See pale (adj.) and compare with pall.

From thingum or thingummy + jig, metrically patterned like gobbledygook, rigamarole. Compare thingamabob, etc. Earliest citation from 1824 as thingumajigs.

From Middle English abaissement, from Middle French abaissement (“astonishment”). Equivalent to abase + -ment. Compare French abaissement.

Shortening of stupid.

From Middle English entune, entone, from Old French entoner, from Medieval Latin intonō, from in- (inchoative prefix) + tonus (“pitch, tone”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); doublet of intonate. Cognate with French entonner, Italian intonare.

From Middle English nicetee, from Old French niceté (“simpleness, foolishness”), from nice (“simple, foolish”); equivalent to nice + -e- + -ty.

From motor + coach.

From Middle English thraldom, þraldom. Compare Danish trældom, Norwegian trelldom, Swedish träldom. By surface analysis, thral(l) + -dom.

Borrowed from Latin laudatōrius: compare Old French laudatoire.

Shitgibbon compound of scuzz + bucket.

From Middle English splendaunt, from Old French splendiant, present participle of esplendiier, and esplendent, and Latin splendēns, splendentis, present participle of splendēre (“to shine”).

From Middle English inbecillite, from Middle French imbecilité, imbecillité, and its etymon Classical Latin imbēcillitās. By surface analysis, imbecile + -ity.

From rail + head.

From nought (“zero”) + -ies (“plural of -y”), in imitation of the names of other decades (twenties, thirties, etc).

From Latin circumspectō (“look around”). Compare periscope.

The verb is derived from Middle English skeuen, skewe, skewen (“to run at an angle or obliquely; to escape”), from Old Northern French escuer [and other forms], variants of Old French eschuer, eschever, eschiver (“to escape, flee; to avoid”) (modern French esquiver (“to dodge (a blow), duck; to elude, evade; to slip away; to sidestep”)), from Frankish *skiuhan (“to dread; to avoid, shun”), from Proto-Germanic *skiuhijaną (“to frighten”). The English word is cognate with Catalan esquiu (“evasive, shy”), Danish skæv (“crooked, slanting; skew, wry”) (> Norwegian Bokmål skjev), Dutch scheef (“crooked, slanting”), Norwegian skeiv (“crooked, lopsided; oblique, slanting; distorted”), Saterland Frisian skeeuw (“aslant, slanting; oblique; awry”), and is a doublet of eschew. The adjective and adverb are probably derived from the verb and/or from askew, and the noun is derived from either the adjective or the verb.