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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 Japanese 墨田 (すみだ, Sumida).

From Old English elements meaning "noble" and "bright," making it a doublet of Albert.

From Egyptian, meaning roughly "the beautiful one has come."

A clipped, altered form of "Wookiee," the shaggy Star Wars species, applied jokingly to unkempt jam-band festival followers.

From Tagalog toyo, ultimately from Hokkien Chinese words meaning "soy sauce."

From Old English hlÿde ("loud, River Lid") + dæl ("dale, valley").

A variant spelling of Swan.

Borrowed from Japanese ようこ (Yōko), a female given name with many variant kanji spellings.

Borrowed from Japanese こはる (Koharu).

A Japanese given name, borrowed into English as-is.

An English surname from the noun holiday, comparable to the surname Christmas.

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac a' Ghobhainn and Irish Mac Gabhann (literally “son of the smith”). Compare Scottish Gaelic gobha (“smith”).

From Japanese みほ (Miho).

Borrowed from Japanese のぶこ (Nobuko).

Borrowed from Sanskrit नैना (nainā).

A variant of Jacko.

Borrowed from the Japanese given name たかこ (Takako).

Borrowed from Japanese ちよこ (Chiyoko).

From Japanese しずこ (Shizuko).

Clipping of Nigel.

A blend of "Finland" and "exit," modeled directly on the word "Brexit" (Britain + exit).

From the Irish surname Ó Grádaigh (O'Grady).

A casual blend of "yes" and "hello".

From Arabic dallāl ("broker"), borrowed into Hindi and other South Asian languages.