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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 あきお (Akio).

Borrowed from Arabic dīn ("religion").

Clipped from "African."

A variant of Ashwood, with a fused French preposition de ("of").

From Paul + -ie.

Borrowed from the Japanese name ゆきお (Yukio).

Borrowed from Japanese たけお (Takeo).

A clipped, informal spelling of "gross," picked up from texting and social media slang.

Borrowed from Japanese けんた (Kenta).

Borrowed from Japanese おさむ (Osamu).

Borrowed from Japanese 杉山 (Sugiyama).

Borrowed from Danish or Norwegian Eriksen.

Borrowed from Japanese けんじ (Kenji).

From Sanskrit गुप्त (gupta).

Borrowed from Japanese けいこ (Keiko).

A diminutive form of "chick," formed with the informal -y ending.

From Old English words meaning "long" and "woodland clearing" — literally "long meadow" or "long glade."

Habitational name from places in France called La Rochelle, from Old French rochelle, a diminutive of roche ("rock").

From annal + -ise.

From the Old English personal name *Sċeaft, a byname from sċeaft (“shaft”), + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

An Anglicised version of the North Germanic (Scandinavian) name Magnuson "son of Magnus" (Swedish Magnusson, Danish Magnussen, Norwegian Magnusen, Icelandic Magnússon), using + -son.

From Basque otsoa/otxoa, meaning "wolf."

From Spanish Montoya, from Basque Montoia.

From Spanish fuentes, "springs" or "fountains."