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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tertiary education

From Latin tertiarius, 'of the third part', from tertius 'third'; it is the third stage after primary and secondary.

An acronym of 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist', originating in online feminist debate in the late 2000s.

An initialism: of touchdown in sport, and of the Irish Teachta Dála, 'deputy to the Dáil', in politics.

An initialism, standing for Tata Consultancy Services, traction control system or Tax Collected at Source depending on context.

A written abbreviation of tablespoon.

An initialism: of tuberculosis in the medical sense, and of terabyte in the computing sense.

From Arabic taqāḍī, 'mutual claiming, demanding settlement', from the root q-ḍ-y relating to settling and discharging obligations; it entered Urdu and Hindi through Persian.

From taper, originally a slender wax candle, from Old English tapor, probably from Latin papyrus, whose pith was used for wicks; the narrow candle shape gave the word its meaning of gradual narrowing.

A contraction of the Spanish phrase tan bien, literally 'so well'.

systemic racism

A compound of systemic, 'affecting a whole system', and racism.

From Greek syn- 'together' and chronos 'time', via Late Latin synchronus.

survival of the fittest

Coined by the philosopher Herbert Spencer in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Darwin, and later adopted by Darwin himself in the fifth edition of On the Origin of Species.

From Latin supinus, 'lying on the back, bent backwards', related to sub 'under'.

From subsidy, which comes via Old French from Latin subsidium, originally 'reserve troops, support', from sub- 'under' and sedere 'to sit'.

state of the art

From art in its older sense of a practical skill or craft, as in the arts and sciences, so the phrase means the current condition of the craft.

From stand plus the suffix -ee, on the pattern of words like employee and attendee.

A blend of stagnation and inflation.

An initialism, expanded differently in each field.

From the older phrase spick and span new, itself an elaboration of span-new meaning brand new, from Old Norse spán-nýr, literally chip-new; spick is thought to be a nail or spike, giving the sense of something as fresh as a newly cut chip and a newly made nail.

From Old English spendan, borrowed from Latin expendere meaning to pay out or weigh out.

speaking in tongues

A translation of the New Testament Greek phrase glossais lalein, 'to speak in tongues', from glossa 'tongue, language' and lalein 'to speak'. The noun glossolalia was later formed from the same roots.

An acronym of Statutory Off Road Notification.

A compound of social and media, media being the plural of medium in the sense of a channel of communication.

From Middle English so that, so þat, sa þat, swo þat, swa þat, from Old English swā þæt, equivalent to so + that. Cognate with Saterland Frisian sodät, West Frisian sadat, Dutch zodat, German sodaß, sodass.