Etymology — The Origins of English Words

femme fatale

French

A direct borrowing from French, literally 'fatal woman' or 'deadly woman'. The plural in careful use is femmes fatales.

federalism

Latin

From federal, which comes from Latin foedus, foeder- 'league, covenant, treaty', plus the suffix -ism denoting a doctrine or system.

fed up

Origin

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

feasibility

French

From feasible, which comes from Old French faisable 'doable', from faire 'to do', ultimately from Latin facere 'to do, to make'.

FAQ

English

An initialism of frequently asked questions, which spread with early internet discussion groups and later became standard on websites.

fallacious

Latin

From Latin fallax, fallac- 'deceitful', from fallere 'to deceive'. The same root gives English fail, fault and false.

facility

Latin

From Latin facilitas 'easiness', from facilis 'easy', from facere 'to do, to make'. The 'ease, skill' sense came into English first; the 'building or amenity' sense developed later.

extrovert

Latin

Formed from Latin extra ('outside') plus vertere ('to turn'), literally 'turned outward'; it entered English through the vocabulary of psychology.

extension

Latin

From Latin extensio, from extendere ('to stretch out'), from ex ('out') plus tendere ('to stretch').

exhortation

Latin

From Latin exhortatio, from exhortari ('to encourage strongly'), from ex- (intensifier) plus hortari ('to urge').

exfoliate

Latin

From Latin exfoliare ('to strip of leaves'), from ex ('off') plus folium ('leaf').

exegesis

Greek

From Greek exēgēsis ('interpretation'), from exēgeisthai ('to lead out, explain'), from ex ('out') plus hēgeisthai ('to lead').

excerpt

Latin

From Latin excerptum, the past participle of excerpere ('to pluck out'), from ex ('out') plus carpere ('to pluck').

ex officio

Latin

Latin, literally 'from the office' or 'out of duty'.

evangelist

Greek

From Greek euangelistēs ('bringer of good news'), from eu ('good') plus angelos ('messenger'), via Latin evangelista.

euphoria

Greek

From Greek euphoria ('power of enduring easily'), from eu ('well') plus pherein ('to bear').

etymology

Greek

From Greek etymon ('true sense, original meaning') plus -logia ('study of'), via Latin etymologia.

etiology

Greek

From Greek aitia ('cause') plus -logia ('study of'), via Latin aetiologia.

etc.

Latin

An abbreviation of Latin et cetera, meaning 'and the rest'.

et al.

Latin

A shortening of Latin et alii ('and others', masculine), et aliae (feminine) or et alia (neuter).

estoppel

Old French

From Old French estoupail ('a stopper, bung'), from estoper ('to stop up'), the idea being that a party's own earlier conduct stops their mouth.

ESP

English

An initialism of 'extrasensory perception' in the main sense; the written abbreviation 'esp.' is simply a clipping of 'especially'.

ESL

English

An initialism of 'English as a Second Language'.

eschew

Old French

From Old French eschiver ('to shun, avoid'), of Germanic origin and related to the root behind English 'shy'.