Etymology — The Origins of English Words

Uncertain. Suggestions include connection with Old Irish cuäch (“cup, goblet, bowl; cauldron, large vessel; bowl, cup”) (whence Scots quaich, queff). The noun is derived from the verb.

Inherited from Middle English nutriment, from Latin nūtrīmentum.

Origin unknown. Perhaps of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse skutill (“bolt, harpoon”), related to skjóta (“to shoot”), but the OED dismisses this connection as conjecture. The Old Norse word is related to Swedish and Danish skyttel (“shuttle, child's toy”). Compare also Old English sċytel (“a dart, bolt”). More at shuttle.

From Middle English spayen, spaien, from the Anglo-Norman espeier, equivalent to the Old French espeer (“to cut with a sword”), from espee (“sword”), whence the Modern French épée.

From Latin pyrotechnica, from Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr, “fire”) + τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “skillful, workmanlike”). Analyzable as pyro- + technic.

From Late Latin perfunctōrius (“careless, negligent”), from the past participial stem of perfungor, perfunct- (“perform, carry through”), from per- + fungor.

15th century. From dote (“to be foolish; senile”) + -rel (“pejorative suffix”). The bird is so named as it is easy to catch.

From the past participle stem of Latin prōtrahō. By surface analysis, pro- + tract.

From late 17th century French effronterie, from effronté (“shameless, insolent”), from Old French esfronté, from Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus. Compare Latin effrōns (“barefaced”), from the prefix ex- (“from”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English: front). By surface analysis, ef- + front + -er + -y.

From Middle English overhope, oferhope, equivalent to over- + hope.

Probably an alteration of tuft, referring to the gold tassel on the cap worn by titled undergraduates at English universities.

From Anglo-Norman countrevaloir (Old French contrevaloir), from Latin contrā valēre (“to be strong against”).

From Old French conversant, present participle of converser.

From Ancient Greek ὀστρακίζω (ostrakízō, “to banish from a city by ostracism”), from ὄστρᾰκον (óstrăkon, “earthenware vessel; fragment of such a vessel, potsherd”) (from the fact that when voting was held to decide whether to banish people, their names were inscribed on potsherds) + -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō, suffix forming verbs)). The English word is cognate with French ostraciser.

From Middle English lufsom, lufsum, from Old English lufsum (“loving, lovable, pleasant”), equivalent to love + -some.

From Middle English foure square; equivalent to four + square.

From Norse + -man. Coined by Scottish novelist, poet and playwright Walter Scott.

First attested in 1664; borrowed from New Latin undulātus, the perfect passive participle of undulō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from an unattested *undula (“small wave”), diminutive of Latin unda (“wave”).

Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English scope (“scoop”) or Dutch schop (“shovel”) + -er; or from Dutch scheppen (“to draw off”).

Originated in 1576, borrowed from Latin crēdulus (“that easily believes a thing, credulous”), from crēdō (“to believe”).

[Alt: Red grape flesh and seeds] From Late Middle English pomis, pomys (“cider; pulp of plants pressed to extract their juice or oil”), probably from Medieval Latin pōmācium, pōmātium (“cider”), possibly a variant of pomaceum (although first attested later), from Latin pōmum (“fruit; fruit tree”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *h₁em- (“to take”), in the sense of something taken off a tree) + -āceum (neuter form of -āceus (suffix meaning ‘belonging to; having the nature of’, forming adjectives)). Doublet of pomade, pomate, and pomatum. Sense 1.1 (“crushed apples”) and sense 1.2 (“residue from grapes”) were possibly influenced by Middle French pommage (“(cidermaking) apple harvest; apple orchards”) and French poma, pomas, pomat (“residue from apples”) (Northern France).

From Middle English synfulnes, synfulnesse, synnefulnysse, equivalent to sinful + -ness. Compare Old English synniġness (“sinfulness”).

From line + -s- + -man.

Borrowed from Latin reclīnāre (“to bend back”). Compare decline, incline.