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 Portuguese and Spanish Duarte, a doublet of the name Edward.

From Old English halh ("hollow").

Borrowed from Latin Cannae.

A pet form of the Hebrew name Kezia, popularised in English-speaking countries after appearing as a character name in Alex Haley's 1976 novel Roots.

From Arabic mahmud, "praised", from the same root as the name Muhammad.

From Arabic jamīla, the feminine form of jamīl, meaning "beautiful."

From Middle English ea, eo, from Old English ēa (“running water, water, stream, river”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahu, from Proto-Germanic *ahwō (“waters, river”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ (“water, flowing water”). Doublet of aqua. Compare ea, Eau, eau.

From Mandarin Chinese 魏 (Wèi).

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 齊/齐 (Qí).

From Latin Furiae.

Named after judoka Masahiko Kimura, who famously used the move to defeat Hélio Gracie in a 1951 match.

Probably from Latin debere, "to owe."

From Old Norse hel; the same root that later gave English "hell."

Transliteration of Japanese 駒実子 (Kumiko) and many other spellings. See くみこ.

A casual shortening, from "hermit" or as a pet form of Herman/Hermione.

Borrowed from Spanish Cuzco, from Quechua Qusqu.

From Old French Gauvain, likely built from Celtic roots meaning roughly "white hawk." It is the same name that later became Gavin.

Borrowed from Spanish Escobar.

Borrowed from Spanish Maradona.

Borrowed from Japanese 巴 (tomoe).

Anglicization of Dutch (van) voor Hees (“(from) before Hees”).

From Tatham, from Old English Tāta, a personal name of unknown meaning + hām.

From Latin digitus, "finger" or "toe" — the finger sense came first, and the number sense grew from the old habit of counting on fingers.

Borrowed from a Tupian language of South America.