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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Spanish de nada, literally 'of nothing', from de 'of' and nada 'nothing'.

An initialism of daddy dom/little girl.

From decibel plus i for isotropic, the idealised reference antenna against which the gain is measured.

An abbreviation in which x stands in for the rest of the word, on the pattern of UX and DX.

The retail chain's name comes from Consumer Value Stores. The medical and computing senses are separate initialisms of chorionic villus sampling and Concurrent Versions System.

Formed from custom (in the sense 'made to order') plus the verb-forming suffix -ize.

From Medieval Latin curativus, from Latin curare 'to care for, to attend to, to heal', from cura 'care'.

From Latin cunnilingus, literally 'one who licks the vulva', formed from cunnus 'vulva' and lingere 'to lick'. In Latin the word named the person; in English it names the act.

From couch + potato; coined by Tom Iacino in 1976 as a pun on boob tuber (from boob tube (“television”) and tuber (“potato”)); trademarked by Robert Armstrong from 1976–91.

Gin here is a shortened form of engine, meaning a mechanical contrivance, and has nothing to do with the drink. The word engine descends from Latin ingenium 'skill, device'.

From French coterie, which earlier meant an association of tenants holding land together, from Old French cotier 'cottager', from cote 'a cottage'.

Probably from Romani košter (“stick”).

From French contraster, in turn from Italian contrastare 'to stand against, to oppose', built on Latin contra 'against' and stare 'to stand'.

From Latin contiguus 'touching, bordering', from contingere 'to touch, to be in contact', formed from con- 'together' and tangere 'to touch'.

From consign plus the agent suffix -or; consign comes through French from Latin consignare 'to mark with a sign, to seal', from con- 'together' and signum 'a sign'.

From Latin confluentem, the present participle of confluere 'to flow together', formed from con- 'together' and fluere 'to flow'.

From Latin concludere 'to shut up, to close, to bring to an end', formed from con- 'together' and claudere 'to shut'.

A modern medical formation from co- 'together with' and morbidity, itself from Latin morbus 'disease'.

Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia.

From Medieval Latin colatorium 'a strainer', from Latin colare 'to strain, to filter', which comes from colum 'a sieve'.

From Malayalam kayar 'cord, rope', related to the verb meaning 'to be twisted'; the word reached English through Portuguese traders in India.

From Latin cohaerentia, from cohaerere 'to stick together', formed from co- 'together' and haerere 'to cling, to stick'.

From Latin cohabitare, formed from co- 'together' and habitare 'to dwell', a frequentative of habere 'to have, to hold'.

From Old French conoissance 'knowledge, acquaintance', from conoistre, which comes from Latin cognoscere 'to get to know'. English later restored the g in spelling to reflect the Latin root.