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 Hindi सागर (sāgar), meaning "ocean."

Borrowed from Italian Zappa.

Borrowed from Yiddish זאַלץ (zalts, “salt”), a Jewish Ashkenazi metonymic occupational surname for a salt producer or seller.

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 詹 (Zhān).

From Burmese နန္ဒာ (nanda).

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Coltaráin.

Borrowed from Portuguese and Spanish Geraldo.

By surface analysis, from bridge plus port.

From Old English hroc ("rook") + ford.

Borrowed from Japanese 西田.

From Cantonese 孫／孙 (syun1).

From Tamil ராகவன் and Malayalam രാഘവൻ, both derived from the same Sanskrit root as "Raghav."

Borrowed from Italian Italiano.

Borrowed from Punjabi ਖੁਰਾਣਾ (khurāṇā).

Borrowed from Mandarin 裴 (Péi) or 貝／贝 (Bèi) (Wade–Giles romanisation: Pei⁴).

Americanized form of French Favre.

* As an English surname of Norman origin, from a shortened form of the name Asketin, a diminutive of Old Norse Ásketill, from Áskell, see also Haskell. * Also as an English surname, from Askern in Campsall. * As an English and Irish surname, variant of Heskin, Haskin. * As a Turkish surname, variant of Aşkın.

An anglicized variant of the German surname Blumenberg.

From Hindi गोपाल (gopāl).

Borrowed from Italian Paolino.

Borrowed from Japanese 横山 (Yokoyama).

From x- as short for cross- in crossing.

Borrowed from Japanese 柴田 (Shibata).

Borrowed from Japanese 村田 (Murata).