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 slack + line. The verb is a back-formation from slacklining.

From sky + clad, indicating that the person in question is clad only in the sky. Attested from early 20th century England, it is partially a calque of Sanskrit दिगम्बर (digambara, “having all (=ten) quarters of the globe as one's only clothing, i.e., naked”).

From Ukrainian соловей (solovej, “nightingale”).

sonograph + -ist

From snot + rag.

Borrowed from French somnambuliste, from Medieval Latin somnambulus (“sleepwalker”). By surface analysis, somn- + -ambulist.

From soft + back.

From Middle English sorinesse, from Old English sāriġnes, from Proto-West Germanic *sairaganassī, *sairīganassī; equivalent to sorry + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian searigens (“soreness, tenderness”).

From sky + way.

From Middle English slatte, sklatte, sklat, sclat, from Old French esclat (“piece broken or split off, shiver, splinter”), from Old French esclater (“to split, burst”), from Frankish *slaitijan (“to split, break”), from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to rend, split”). Doublet of slate and éclat.

From solemn + -ise.

Blend of somatic + esthesis.

softheartedness

From softhearted + -ness.

From slide + -y.

From snoot + -ful.

From slabber + -y.

From Middle English safistre, soffistre, sofystry, sophestrie, sophestry, sophestrye, sophistre, sophistri, sophistrie, sophistry, sophistrye, sophystrye, from Old French sofisterie, sophistrie and Medieval Latin sophistria, Anglo-Latin sophestria, from Latin sophista, from Ancient Greek σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “wise man”), from σοφίζω (sophízō, “to be wise”), from σοφός (sophós, “wise”), equivalent to sophist + -ry.

From skin + walker.

Compare German Schnuckel.

From Ukrainian соловей (solovej, “nightingale”) or Russian соловей (solovej, “nightingale”).

From Old English *Sīdaneġ, the name of a place in Surrey, from sīd (“wide”) + eġ (“island”).

From Middle English symplenesse; equivalent to simple + -ness.

From Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish skilling. Doublet of shilling.

From slow + footed.