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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A transliteration of the Russian Александр.

Borrowed from Arabic أَمَل (ʔamal, “hope”).

A modern blend name combining "Anna" and "Beth."

From the many seagulls found in the seaside town of Torquay.

Borrowed from Portuguese Sousa, from Old Galician-Portuguese Sousa.

From Simon + -s.

Borrowed from Korean 쿠 (ku).

From Russian Sveta, an informal pet form of Svetlana.

Russian · 1802

From Russian Svetlana, related to svet ("light"). Coined around 1802 by the poet Alexander Vostokov and later adopted widely.

From Topsy, a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, who famously says she "just growed" rather than being deliberately raised or made.

From Old Norse Frigg, from Proto-Germanic *Frijjō. Cognate with the native Old English Frīġ. Doublet of Priya.

From the given name Hitch (a diminutive of Richard) plus -cock, a medieval diminutive suffix.

From Ancient Greek Δαίδαλος (Daídalos).

From Old English cald ("cold") + wielle ("well, spring").

From Sanskrit मानव (mānava).

Borrowed from Sanskrit दुर्गा (durgā).

From German Zucker ("sugar") + Berg ("mountain") — literally "sugar mountain," a fairly common German-Jewish surname before it became strongly associated with the Facebook founder.

Coined circa 1994 by pharmaceutical executive Roger Griggs, a contraction of "ADD for all".

From the name of the French city of Reims, where the fabric was originally woven.

Old French perriere, perrier, French perrière, pierrier. Compare pederero.

From the medieval English given name usually recorded in its Latin form, Ivo.

Swedish · 1895

Named after Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite, who endowed the prizes in his 1895 will.

From Middle English Pebody, equivalent to pea (“peacock”) + body (“body, person”).

From Middle English sich, siche, from Old English sīċ (“a watercourse; sike”), from Proto-West Germanic *sīk, from Proto-Germanic *sīką (“slow flowing water; a trickle”).