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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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From Sanskrit सिंह (siṁha, "lion"), also found across Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Bengali, Gujarati, and Punjabi. A doublet of Singh.

* As a Polish, Ukrainian, Carpathian Rusyn, Lower Sorbian and Slovak surname, from the noun krupa (“groats”). Compare Kruppa. * As a Czech surname, variant of Kroupa. * As a Serbo-Croatian surname, from krupa (“sleet, hail”), related to the above.

From Irish Ó Maoldúin ("descendant of Maoldúin").

From Old English for "box tree" plus Old Norse for "farm, town."

Borrowed from Arabic حَيْدَر (ḥaydar) or Persian حَیْدَر (haydar), meaning "lion."

Borrowed from Italian Motta.

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Ceinnsealaigh.

From the German town Selters, famous for its naturally sparkling mineral springs; the name became a generic word for any fizzy water.

From the village of Dunlop in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which gave its name to both the cheese and, later, the tyre company founded by John Boyd Dunlop.

Borrowed from Slovak Danko.

Borrowed from Italian Marchetti.

From Old English brād ("broad") plus feld ("field").

A toponymic surname for someone who lived by a river or lake, from at + water.

From Matthew + -son.

Borrowed from Italian Grimaldi, a patronymic form of Grimaldo.

Borrowed from Swedish Sandström, from sand (“sand”) + ström (“stream”).

Borrowed from Japanese 斎藤 (Saitō).

From Sanskrit miśra.

A variant spelling of Smith, from the trade of the blacksmith.

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 丘/邱 (Qiū), among other characters.

* From Williams + -burg. ** (Brooklyn): Named after Jonathan Williams. * From William + -s- + -burg. ** (Indiana): Named after its founder William Johnson.

From Norman place names meaning "oak grove".

Borrowed from Italian Bosco.

Borrowed from Chinese 侯 (Hóu).