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 Latin Utica, from a Phoenician word meaning "old."

From Arabic كَرِيم (karīm, “noble, generous”).

From German Jäger ("hunter").

A patronymic English surname, from Dennis + -son, compare Tyson, Tennyson.

English and Welsh surname, spelling variant of Wynn and Gwynn.

Variant of Quentin, merged with an Old English place name meaning "queen's town".

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 趙 /赵 (Zhào), an ancient city name. Doublet of Trieu.

From Irish Mac Conmara.

Possibly from the Anglo-Norman French "petit creu" (small growth), or from "pie de grue" (crane's foot), referring to someone with long legs.

From the Irish surname, from Ó Donnghaile ("descendant of Donnghal"), from donn ("brown-haired") + gal ("valor").

From the Ancient Greek word akme, meaning "point" or "peak." The word later became a popular generic company name, most famously in Looney Tunes cartoons.

A coinage from Lu + Ann.

Borrowed from Italian Coppola, adapted from Sicilian Còppula, from còppula (“coppola cap, foreskin”).

From Ukrainian Лима́н (Lymán).

From German Witt.

From Old English hwīt (“white”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to white + -ley (“lea”).

From Old English hwīt (“white”) + feld (“field”).

Anglicization of Spanish Vélez, of patronymic origin ("Son of Vela")

From Middle English sike (“marshy stream, gutter, ditch”).

Borrowed from Spanish Suárez.

From the Latin word for "sun," sol, in its genitive form solis.

From Middle English, from schepherde (“shepherd”).

From Spanish serrano (“mountainous”), because it originated in the sierras (“mountains”) of the Mexican states of Puebla and Hidalgo.

Borrowed from German Schröder.