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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Borrowed from Polish Lewicki.

From Italian stallone (“stallion”), from Frankish *stallo, from *stall (“stable”) where the horses were kept. More at English stall.

From Kannada ಮೂರ್ತಿ, deriving from Sanskrit मूर्ति (mūrti, "idol, icon").

Borrowed from Arabic صَدِيق (ṣadīq, "friend").

Borrowed from Mandarin 關／关 (guān), Cantonese 關／关 (gwaan1), or Hokkien 關／关 (Koan).

From Manipuri ꯁꯂꯥꯝ (salām).

Borrowed from Italian Paternò.

From Arabic عِمْرَان (ʕimrān).

From Italian Gennaro, ultimately from Latin Iānuārius — the same root that gives English the month January.

From German schön, "handsome, beautiful."

From Cornish tre (“farmstead; town”) + men (“stone”).

From the Korean surname, variant of Hŏ, from 허 (heo).

Borrowed from Japanese Ishida (石田).

From Spanish Zenón and French Zénon, from Ancient Greek Ζήνων (Zḗnōn).

A habitational surname taken from a place in West Yorkshire, England, combining an old British word for "church" with the Old English word for "woodland clearing."

Borrowed from Cantonese 施 (si¹, IPA: /siː⁵⁵/). See also Szeto, which is from Cantonese 司徒 (si¹ tou⁴, IPA: /siː⁵⁵ tʰou̯²¹/).

Borrowed from Vietnamese Phương.

From the Arabic surname, from the adjective زكي (“chaste, pure”). Compare Zaky.

Americanized spelling of German Seifer.

Formed by adding the prefix "De-" to the name Andre, following a naming pattern that also produced names like DeShawn and DeAngelo, especially popular from the 1990s onward.

From Romance languages * From Spanish Laguardia, from guardia (“guard”) * From Italian Laguardia, from Sicilian La Guardia (“the guard”).

The name is said to come from early settlers' observation that the community used heated stones for cooking.

From Sanskrit tripathin, "one who knows three (Vedic) paths."

Borrowed from Hindi मेहरा (mehrā), cf. Mehrotra, Malhotra.