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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Borrowed from Burmese.

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish موصل (mosul), from Arabic الْمَوْصِل (al-mawṣil).

Borrowed from Portuguese Santos, literally "saints."

Named after Kochi (formerly Cochin), a city in Kerala, India.

An acronym for "you only live once," a phrase dating back to the 19th century; the acronym itself was popularized around 2011 by the rapper Drake and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016.

Formed from "Joan" plus the affectionate ending "-ie."

Possibly related to Spanish redundar, "to overflow" — describing the leftover liquid that spills from the process.

From Old French espicier, "dealer in spices," built from spice plus the agent suffix "-er."

From Old English wæter, from a Proto-Germanic root going back to a very old Proto-Indo-European word for "wet" or "water" — the same root that gives us "wash" and "otter."

Rendering of the modern Israeli Hebrew יעל.

* As an Irish surname, from Ó hEachthighearna (literally “descendant of Eachthighearna”) from each (“horse”) + tighearna (“lord, master”). * As an Irish surname, also from Ó hUidhrín; see Herron. * As an English surname, spelling variant of Heron. * As an English surname, from Old English hyrne (“river bend, hill recess”). * As an English surname, related to the root of horn. * As an English surname, named after Herne in Bedfordshire, from Old English hær (“stone”).

Variant of McCormick.

From Scottish Gaelic and Irish Mac Cormaic (literally “son of Cormac”), from Old Irish Cormac, Corbmac, which is itself from corb (“chariot”) + mac (“son”). The double patronymic "arose when the meaning of Cormac began to be lost sight of". Many books of baby names also connect the name to an Irish word for "raven".

Borrowed from Irish Mac Carthaigh (literally “son of Carthach”).

Borrowed from Xhosa.

As a surname, from Middle English "chapelain" (chaplain), an occupational name; the protein term borrows the surname (echoing Charlie Chaplin) as a scientific label.

From tub + -man.

Believed to originate from a South American language, first used to describe mudflows from the Pichincha volcano near Quito, Ecuador.

From Hebrew זאב (ze'év, “wolf”).

Formed from saying the letters "B" and "J" together as one word.

From Italian sistino, from the Medieval Latin name Sixtus.

Said to derive from an Ojibwe phrase meaning roughly "crown of the valley."

Variant of Alvin.

Related to canny and cunning — all trace back to the same root meaning "knowing" or "skilled."