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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 Korean 채 (Chae).

From the Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin 蕭/萧 (Xiāo).

* As a German and Dutch surname, from the noun hohl (“hollow hole”). * Also as a German surname, variant of Hold, from the obsolete noun Middle High German holde (“friend, servant vassal”); also Helle. * As an English surname, variant of Hole. * Also as a Dutch surname, variant of Holle.

From west + lake.

* As a Korean surname, from 목 (mok) * As a transliteration of several Chinese surnames, from 莫, source of above. See Mok. * As a Dutch surname, spelling variant of Mock. * As a Hungarian surname, from the personal name Mók, probably a pet form of Mózes.

From Middle English toppor, equivalent to top + -er.

Borrowed from Bengali বাঁড়ুজ্জে (bãṛujje).

From Hebrew אִילָן (Ilán, “tree, oak tree”).

From west + Chester in England.

From Mandarin 司徒 (Sītú).

Borrowed from Yiddish גריןשפּאַן (grinshpan) Literally, “green branch, green bridle”, referring to Spanish green, copper acetate (“copper(II) acetate”)

* As a German and Alemannic German surname, from Gans (“goose”). * Also as a German surname, shortened from Ganso, derived from ganz (“whole”). * Also as a German surname, possibly altered from Hans with Russian influence. * As a Jewish surname, directly from German ganz (“whole”).

From Old English mylen ("mill") plus tūn ("settlement").

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Mac Cogadháin (“son of Cogadhán”), a diminutive from a reduced form of the personal name Cúchogaidh, which is composed of the elements cú (“hound”) and cogadh (“war”).

From Hungarian Kovács, from kovács (“blacksmith”), from Proto-Slavic *kovačь. Doublet of Kovach and Kovack.

From Czech and Slovak Kováč, Slovene Kovač, or Serbo-Croatian Kòvač, all meaning "blacksmith". Doublet of Kovack and Kovach.

From Portuguese branco ("white"), originally a nickname for a light-skinned man.

Borrowed from Hindi चंद (cand), "moon."

Variant of Stegmann.

From a Slavic language, e.g. Belarusian кравец (kravjec, “tailor”), Ukrainian кравець (kravecʹ, “tailor”), Slovak kravec (“tailor”), or Polish krawiec (“tailor”). Ultimately from Proto-Slavic *kravьcь (compare *krojiti (“to cut”)).

Borrowed from Malayalam മേനോൻ (mēnōṉ).

From Hunt + -s- + -ville.

From the Korean name for the dynasty, romanized as "Joseon."

Borrowed from German Auerbach.