English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Etymology — The Origins of English Words

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

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A compound of index, a published measure of a market's overall value, and fund, a pool of money invested on behalf of many people.

An initialism of exchange-traded fund.

From mint, a place where money is coined, ultimately from Latin moneta, a title of the goddess Juno in whose temple Roman coins were struck; the blockchain sense borrows the metaphor of issuing new currency.

A compound of web and the numeral 3, positioning the idea as a third stage after the early read-only web and the later social and platform web.

A compound of meme and coin.

A compound of the English vulgar term shit and coin.

From a misspelling of holding in a 2013 post on the Bitcointalk forum titled I AM HODLING, which was picked up and reused as a term in its own right; it is often backronymed as hold on for dear life, but that reading came afterwards.

From white paper, a British government term for an official report presented to Parliament, so called from the plain white covers that distinguished such reports from other papers.

From the English idiom to pull the rug out from under someone, meaning to remove support suddenly and without warning.

A compound of gut, from Old English guttas 'entrails', and health.

intermittent fasting

From intermittent, ultimately from Latin intermittere 'to leave off, interrupt', plus fasting, from Old English fæstan 'to abstain from food'.

A shortening of macronutrients, from Greek makros 'large, long' plus nutrient.

An initialism of high-intensity interval training.

An initialism of body mass index.

From anti- meaning against, plus oxidant, a substance that causes oxidation.

From pro- meaning for or in favour of, and Greek biotikos, meaning pertaining to life; formed as a counterpart to antibiotic.

From Latin rosaceus, meaning rose-coloured, from rosa, a rose.

From Greek derma, meaning skin, plus -itis, the medical suffix denoting inflammation.

From Greek keras, meaning horn, plus the chemical suffix -in.

A compound of micro- meaning very small and needling, the action of pricking with needles.

From Latin salix, meaning willow, the tree from whose bark the related compound salicin was first obtained.

From niacin plus amide, naming the amide form of that vitamin.

From Latin exfoliare, to strip of leaves, from ex- meaning off and folium meaning leaf.

An initialism of sun protection factor.