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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Italian prego, literally "I pray", the first-person form of pregare "to pray, to beg", from Latin precari.

From Latin praefigere "to fix in front", from prae- "before" + figere "to fasten".

From Latin praedicatum "that which is said of something", from praedicare "to proclaim, declare".

Plural of precept, from Latin praeceptum "rule, instruction", from praecipere "to instruct, take beforehand".

From Latin praeambulus "walking in front", from prae- "before" + ambulare "to walk", reaching English through Old French preambule.

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

From Latin post mortem, "after death".

From the Latin prefix post-, "after", added to graduate — that is, study after a first degree.

From French portemanteau, from porter, "to carry", and manteau, "cloak" — originally a case for carrying clothes. Lewis Carroll used the image in Through the Looking-Glass for words that pack two meanings into one.

From Italian portico, from Latin porticus, "covered walk, porch", related to porta, "gate, door".

From Latin populus, "the people", via the political movements of the late 19th century that took the name.

From Greek polymathēs, "having learned much", from poly-, "many", and manthanein, "to learn".

From Greek polyglōttos, from poly-, "many", and glōtta, "tongue, language".

Greek and Latin

A modern hybrid compound of Greek poly-, "many", and Latin amor, "love".

From Greek polos, "axis, pivot", via Latin polus and the adjective polar.

From the card game poker, in which concealing your reaction to your own hand is essential to play.

Internet slang popularised through Twitch chat and the PogChamp emote. The 1990s milk-cap game of the same name takes its name from POG, a Hawaiian passionfruit-orange-guava juice whose bottle caps were used to play.

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

Latin and Greek

A modern compound of Latin pluvia, "rain", and the Greek-derived suffix -phile, "lover of".