Etymology — The Origins of English Words

From term + -less.

From stolid + -ity, from Middle French stolidité, from Late Latin stoliditas.

From pot + belly.

From Old French sempiternel, from Medieval Latin sempiternālis, from Latin sempiternus, a contraction of semperæternus, from semper (“always”) + æternus (“eternal”).

From Middle English aleggen, perhaps from Old French alleguer, or from Anglo-Norman aleger, the form perhaps from Old French esligier (“to acquit”), from Medieval Latin *exlītigāre (“to clear at law”), from Latin ex (“out”) + lītigō (“sue at law”), but the meaning from Old French alleguer, from Latin allēgāre (“send on a mission, depute; relate, mention, adduce”), from ad (“to”) + lēgō (“send”). See also al-.

From pork + -er. * (obese person; police officer): Carried over from the same senses of pig. * (a lie): Extension of the rhyming slang pork pie.

From Middle French apogée, from Latin apogaeum, apogēum, from Ancient Greek ἀπόγειον (apógeion, “away from Earth”), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) + γῆ (gê, “Earth”).

Inherited from Middle English privacioun, from Middle French privation, privacion, from Old French privacion, from Latin prīvātiō; compare French privation. See private.

From Middle English abbreviaten, from abbreviat(e) (“abbreviated”, used as the participle of abbreviaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin abbreviātus, perfect passive participle of abbreviō (“to shorten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), formed from ab- + breviō (“to shorten”), from brevis (“short”). Alternatively, a back-formation from abbreviation. Doublet of abridge.

From Epicurean (“follower of Epicureanism”).

From French coloration, from Latin colōrātiō.

Coined by American author and aeronautical engineer Robert A. Heinlein in 1961 in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein invented the word for his fictitious Martian language. It is described as meaning “to drink” and, figuratively, “to drink in all available aspects of reality”, “to become one with the observed”. William Tenn later asked Heinlein if it could have been inspired by the term griggo, which featured in Tenn's Venus and the Seven Sexes (1949); Heinlein “looked startled, then thought about it for a long time (and) shrugged, (saying) ‘It's possible, very possible.’”

From Romani romani, feminine form of romano (“of or pertaining to the Roma”), from rom (“man”). See also Roma. Not related to Romanian, Roman or Rome.

From soak + -er.

Derived from Latin multiplicitas.

From Old English Æþelwine, from æþel (“noble”) + wine (“friend”); partly merged with Ælfwine (“Alvin”, literally “elf friend”).

From Middle English taleteller, tale tellere; equivalent to tale + teller.

Inherited from Middle English irken (“to tire, grow weary”), from Old Norse yrkja (“to work”), from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to work”). Cognate with Icelandic yrkja (“to compose”), Swedish yrka (“to urge, argue”), Old English wyrċan (“to work”). Doublet of work.

From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).

Borrowed from Latin unguentum (“ointment”), from unguō (“to smear with ointment”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ- (“to salve, anoint”). Cognates include Old Prussian anctan, Old High German ancho (German Anke (“butter”)), Welsh ymenyn (“butter”).

The adjective is first attested in 1528, the verb in 1574; borrowed from Latin inveterātus (“of long standing, chronic”), perfect passive participle of inveterō and participial adjective (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in, into”) + veterō (“to age”), from vetus, veteris (“old”). Cognate with Italian inveterato, French invétéré. By surface analysis, in- (“not, opposite”) + veterate.

From Middle English tenebrose, from Old French tenebros, from Latin tenebrōsus (“dark, gloomy”).

From dream + world. Compare West Frisian dreamwrâld (“dreamworld”), Dutch droomwereld, dromenwereld (“dreamworld”), German Traumwelt (“dreamworld”), Danish drømmeverden (“dreamworld”), Swedish drömvärld (“dreamworld”).

From Middle English enmuren and Middle French emmurer, both from Old French enmurer, from Latin immūrō, from in- + mūrus (“wall”). Modern spelling is modelled after the Latin.