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 Greek hedone 'pleasure', via hedonism.

From hedge, Old English hecg 'a boundary of bushes'; the financial and evasive senses come from the idea of putting a protective fence around oneself.

An initialism of how about you.

An initialism of happy birthday.

From the old custom of removing one's hat as a mark of respect.

From Greek haptikos 'able to touch or grasp', from haptesthai 'to touch'.

From Swahili hakuna 'there is not' and matata 'troubles, problems'.

From Middle English haberdasher, a dealer in small goods, probably via Anglo-Norman French; the ultimate source is uncertain.

From guilt + trip. First use appears c. 1972 in the novel Any Minute I Can Split by Judith Rossner.

An initialism used in text messaging.

An initialism, most often of go-to-market.

An initialism of got to go, and separately of good to go.

Coined by Carol Dweck.

From the verb grow, of Germanic origin, with the noun-forming suffix -th as in width and depth.

Via French gratuité from medieval Latin gratuitas, 'gift', from Latin gratus, 'pleasing, thankful'.

Via Old French governement from Latin gubernare, 'to steer a ship, to direct', itself borrowed from Greek kybernan.

So called because the bumpy skin resembles that of a plucked goose.

From riddance, the act of getting rid of something, from the verb rid; the phrase is recorded in English from the sixteenth century.

A compound of gold and digger; the figurative sense of someone digging for another person's money grew out of the literal prospecting sense.

A shortening of gluteus, from Greek gloutos, 'buttock'.

From Latin glossarium, from glossa, an obscure or foreign word needing explanation, borrowed from Greek glossa, 'tongue, language'.

An initialism of Graphics Interchange Format.

From ghost, in the sense of vanishing like an apparition, plus -ing.

From late Latin gerundium, from gerere, 'to carry on, to do'.