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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From Latin supersedere "to sit above, preside over, refrain from", from super- "above" and sedere "to sit".

From late Latin superlativus, from superlatus "carried beyond, exaggerated", from super- "beyond" and ferre "to carry".

From Latin super- "beyond" and annus "year", by way of the medieval Latin superannuatus "more than a year old, worn out with age".

From Latin suffixus "fastened underneath or after", the past participle of suffigere, from sub- "under, after" and figere "to fasten".

From Latin succinctus "girded up, tucked in", the past participle of succingere, from sub- "from below" and cingere "to gird".

From Latin substratum, the neuter past participle of substernere "to spread underneath", from sub- "under" and sternere "to spread".

From Latin sublimare "to raise up, elevate", from sublimis "lofty, uplifted".

From the verb strip "to remove a covering" plus the agent suffix -er.

From Greek stokhastikos "able to guess, skilled at aiming", from stokhos "a mark or target aimed at".

An initialism of "swear to God"; the currency sense is a contraction of "sterling".

An initialism of "shut the fuck up", from internet and text-message shorthand.

From Old English 'stigweard', literally 'hall keeper' or 'house guardian', plus the suffix '-ship' denoting a state or office.

From Greek 'stenosis', a narrowing, from 'stenos' meaning 'narrow'.

From Latin status quo, 'the state in which'. It comes from the longer diplomatic formula in statu quo res erant ante bellum, 'in the state in which things were before the war', but is not simply an abbreviation of it.

From Latin 'status', meaning 'standing, position, condition', from 'stare', to stand.

From Italian 'stanza', meaning 'room' or 'stopping place', from the sense of each group of lines being a room within the poem.

Originally the person who held the stakes in a wager; the modern business sense of 'anyone with an interest' developed from that image.

From Latin 'sputum', the past participle of 'spuere' meaning 'to spit'.

From the verb phrase 'spin off', to throw off or separate something from a rotating mass.

A modern coinage from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a project by the writer John Koenig that invents words for unnamed feelings. It is not an inherited English word, though it echoes French 'sonder', to probe or sound out.

From French 'sombre', meaning dark or gloomy, ultimately from Latin 'sub umbra', 'under shade'.

From Greek 'somatikos', from 'soma' meaning 'body'.

From Latin 'solubilis', from 'solvere' meaning 'to loosen, dissolve'.

From Late Latin 'soliloquium', from 'solus' meaning 'alone' and 'loqui' meaning 'to speak'.