Etymology — The origins of English words

swollenness

Origin

From swollen + -ness.

tonality

Origin

From French tonalité.

tightass

Origin

Back-formation from tight-assed; equivalent to tight + ass.

teetotaller

Origin

From teetotal + -er.

systemwise

Origin

From system + -wise.

thumby

Origin

From thumb + -y/-ie (diminutive suffix).

synoptically

Origin

From synoptic + -ally.

thickflowing

Origin

From thick + flowing.

tormentous

Origin

From torment + -ous.

tenfoot

Origin

From ten + foot.

tarantella

Origin

Borrowed from Italian tarantella, a diminutive of Taranto, a town in southern Italy (but popularly associated with tarantola (“tarantula”), on the belief that the dance was variously a result of, or cure for, its bite).

tepal

Origin

From French tépale, from New Latin tēpalum, coined 1827 by transposition of French pétale (“petal”).

togetherize

Origin

From together + -ize.

swith

Origin

From Middle English swith, swithe, from Old English swīþe (“very much, exceedingly, severely, violently, fiercely”), from Proto-West Germanic *swinþā, from Proto-Germanic *swinþê (“strongly”), from Proto-Indo-European *swento- (“active, healthy”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian swied (“very”), West Frisian swiid (“very”), Dutch zwijd (“very, extremely”), Low German swied (“quite, very”), Dutch gezwind (“quick, swift”). Not related to superficially similar English swift.

timekeeping

Origin

From time + keeping.

tinnitus

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin tinnītus (“a jingling, ringing”).

tinnie

Origin

From tin + -ie.

tormentrix

Origin

From tormentor + -trix.

titter

Origin

First attested in the 1610s. Probably from Middle English *titeren, *titren (attested in Middle English titering (“hesitation, vacillation”)), probably a frequentative of Middle English titten (“to waver”), related to Old Norse titra (“to shake, shiver, quiver”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to snicker”).

syndication

Origin

From the verb syndicate (1925).

terrene

Origin

From Middle English terrene, from Anglo-Norman terriene, feminine of terrien, from Latin terrēnus, from terra (“earth”).

tinction

Origin

Borrowed from Latin tinctiō (“a soaking, dipping”).

syncretism

Origin

From Latin syncretismus, from Ancient Greek συγκρητισμός (sunkrētismós, “federation of Cretan cities”), from συγκρητίζω (sunkrētízō, “to unite against a common enemy”), from σύν (sún, “together”) (see English syn-) + Κρῆτες (Krêtes, “Cretans”). By surface analysis, syn- + Crete + -ism (“Crete joining together”).

switchback

Origin

The noun is derived from switch (“to turn (a train) from one railway track to another using a switch”, verb) + back (“so as to reverse direction and return”, adverb). The verb is derived from the noun.