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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An initialism of lean body mass.

From Old French lanchier, lancier, from Late Latin lanceare, meaning to wield or hurl a lance.

A literal compound of last and minute, used figuratively for the final moments before a deadline.

Plural of lancet, from Old French lancette, a diminutive of lance 'spear'.

From Latin lactare 'to suckle, produce milk', from lac, lactis 'milk', the root behind lactose and lactic.

From Greek kleptes 'thief' plus -kratia 'rule, power', the same ending as in democracy and autocracy.

From Greek kinetikos 'of motion', from kinein 'to move', plus energeia 'activity'.

An initialism of JavaScript.

Past tense of join, from Old French joindre, from Latin iungere 'to yoke together', the root that also gives junction and conjugal.

Jesus H. Christ

Unknown. An extension of Jesus Christ with a fantastical middle initial, perhaps derived from a reading of ΙΗΣ (IĒS) (sometimes ΙΗϹ (IĒS), using a lunate sigma), a Greek-alphabet abbreviation for Jesus (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) as three initials in Latin letters. See "Christogram" at Wikipedia. The earliest use of the phrase is unknown, although according to Mark Twain (1835–1910) it was already common in the region of Hannibal, Missouri, when he was a boy.

From Old French jambe 'leg', from Late Latin gamba 'hoof, leg'. The upright side of a doorway was pictured as its leg.

From earlier Ivy colleges (1933), as Ivy League first used by AP sports editor Alan J. Gould (1935). The title became official after the formation of the athletic conference in 1954. From the tradition of Ivy Day at many older colleges and universities, where ivy is planted to honor academic excellence.

An initialism of intravenous. The unrelated numeral sense comes from the Roman system, where I before V means one less than five.

From Greek isos 'equal' plus tonos 'tension, tone'.

A noun formed from the suffix -ism, which reached English through Latin from Greek -ismos, used to form nouns of action, condition or doctrine.

From Old English is. It does not descend from beon (the source of be and been) but from a separate ancient root, which also gives Latin est and German ist — the verb 'to be' in English is assembled from several originally distinct verbs.

inversely proportional

From Latin inversus 'turned upside down' plus proportio 'a share or relation'.

introvert and extrovert

Both are built from Latin vertere 'to turn': intro- 'inward' plus vertere, and extra- 'outside' plus vertere. So the words literally mean inward-turned and outward-turned.

From French intriguer, from Italian intrigare, from Latin intricare 'to entangle', which also gives intricate.

Past tense of instruct, from Latin instruere 'to build, arrange, equip or teach', from in- 'in' plus struere 'to pile up, build'.

From Latin in- 'not' plus humanus 'human, humane', the same root that gives human and humanity.

From Latin ingenuus, meaning native-born or free-born, and hence noble or frank in character.

An initialism of the four Myers-Briggs preference letters: I for introversion, N for intuition, F for feeling and P for perceiving.

From Latin indictare, meaning to declare or proclaim, which reached English through Old French enditer. The same root later produced the legal word indict.