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 cohors, cohort- meaning an enclosure or a company of soldiers; a cohort was one tenth of a Roman legion.

Via Old French conoissant from Latin cognoscere meaning to get to know, from co- and gnoscere to know.

cognitive dissonance

A term from psychology, from cognitive relating to thinking and dissonance meaning a clash or lack of harmony; it was introduced by the psychologist Leon Festinger in the 1950s.

From Latin cogent-, the present participle stem of cogere meaning to drive together or compel, from co- together and agere to drive.

From Latin coercere meaning to restrain, from co- together and arcere to shut in.

From code, ultimately from Latin codex meaning a book or block of wood for writing, plus the verb ending -fy from Latin facere to make.

From Italian coda meaning tail, from Latin cauda.

An initialism of chief marketing officer.

A compound of click, as in clicking a link, and bait, something used to lure.

From French cliché, the past participle of clicher, a printing term for making a stereotype plate; a phrase reused unchanged was likened to a fixed printing block.

From the Latin prefix cis- meaning on this side of, formed as the counterpart to trans- meaning across, plus gender.

An initialism of chief information officer.

Reportedly coined by American high school student Gaby Rasson in 2013 to describe "people who were slightly off trend" and subsequently popularized by her peers.

From Old French chatel meaning property or goods, from Latin capitale, capital; it is a doublet of both cattle and capital.

Via French from medieval Latin capitulare, to draw up under headings, from capitulum a little head or chapter; surrender terms were originally set out heading by heading.

From Latin candor meaning brightness or whiteness, from candere to shine; the sense of openness developed from the idea of clarity.

A French phrase meaning literally that is the life, used in English in its original form.

From bull in the stock-market sense of a buyer who expects prices to rise, plus the adjective ending -ish; the market sense of bull is of uncertain origin.

From the idiom kick the bucket, meaning to die; a bucket list is a list of things to do before then.

An initialism of by the way.

An initialism of best friend, used in online messaging and social media.

From Latin brevitas, from brevis meaning short.

An initialism of be right back, from early online chat and messaging.

A respelling of bougie, itself a shortening of bourgeois.