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 Marathi/Gujarati desai, meaning "leader of a village or district."

A blend of the phrase "what's up" and the word "app," registered as a trademark for the messaging service.

From tweet plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

Variant of the originally proposed Exon (in keeping with the four-letter format of Enco and Esso), to avoid having the name of J. James Exon, governor of Nebraska, which might have suggested a conflict of interest.

Borrowed from Spanish Joaquín.

From Japanese 島 (Shima), meaning "island."

Borrowed from Japanese ひかり (hikari), meaning "light."

From German Löb, a dialectal form of Löwe, meaning "lion."

From Arabic خَالِد (ḵālid, “immortal; glorious; eternal”).

Borrowed from Arabic خَلِيل (ḵalīl, “friend”).

From Sanskrit नन्दि (nandi).

Borrowed from Dothraki khaleesi (“queen”), feminine of khal (“king”). Coined by American writer and television producer George R. R. Martin for the title of the character Daenerys Targaryen in his book A Song of Ice and Fire (1996) novels. Popularised by the later television adaptation Game of Thrones (2011).

From the company name Netflix, itself likely blending "Net" (the internet) with "flix," a playful respelling of "flicks" (movies).

From Persian shirin, "sweet."

From Tibetan rdo rje gling, combining "vajra" and "land."

Borrowed from Polish Jurek.

Originally an abbreviation of Charles, from "Chas."

Named after Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956), the American biologist who devised the scale in his research on human sexuality.

From Taishanese, a romanization of the surname 譚/谭.

Probably from Pictish, equivalent to Welsh ar (“on”) + cardden (“enclosure”).

A common Romanian given name, also used as a short form of Vladimir or Vladislav in Slavic languages.

From Portuguese Rodrigues ("son of Rodrigo"); the island was named after the explorer Diogo Rodrigues.

From Latin Icarus, from Greek Ikaros, the mythological son of Daedalus.

From German Pfeiffer, literally "piper".