Etymology — The Origins of English Words

From Urdu/Hindi nawab, from Persian, ultimately from Arabic nuwwab, plural of na'ib, "deputy."

A playful back-formation, invented on the mistaken assumption that "immune" was formed from a prefix "im-" plus "mune" — it wasn't, but the joke word stuck.

Formed from "zoo" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ey."

Borrowed from the Washo language word daʔaw, meaning "lake."

From Ancient Greek Thaḯs, best known as the name of a companion of Alexander the Great.

From hug plus the adjective ending -y.

From Italian morra, a name of uncertain further origin used for this ancient finger-guessing game.

Borrowed from Spanish maca, itself from Quechua maqa, the Andean name for the plant.

(programming language): Named after Alan Turing.

Formed from "smack down," meaning to defeat decisively, and popularized in the late 1990s by the American professional wrestling show WWF SmackDown!

From cope + -ed. Piecewise doublet of caped, capped, and chaped.

* As a German and Alemannic German surname, from the noun Meier (“leaseholder of a manor”). Compare Maier, Mayer, Meier, Myer. * As a Jewish surname, from Yiddish מאיר (mir). Compare Majer, Major, Mayor, Meir. * As a Dutch/West Flemish surname, variant of Meijer.

From Gaelic "Mac Dhòmhnaill," meaning "son of Donald."

From Latin miscellaneus, based on miscellus (\"mixed\"), from miscere (\"to mix\").

Borrowed from French Dyle.

A playful English reshuffling of "an other" into "a nother" — the same kind of sound-swap that turned "a napron" into "an apron."

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀττίλα (Attíla), of uncertain further origin. Traditionally thought to have been derived from East Germanic, such as a Gothic *𐌰𐍄𐍄𐌹𐌻𐌰 (*attila, literally “little father”), from 𐌰𐍄𐍄𐌰 (atta, “father”) + -𐌹𐌻𐌰 (-ila). Displaced native Old English Ætla. A more recent explanation by Bonnman-Fries (2025) suggests a Yeniseian origin, specifically an Arinic language. The proper name is explained as deriving from a Common Yeniseian adjective complex *atɨ-λa (“quite swift, quite fast”); see there for more. Compare also Bactrian Χιγγιλο (Khingilo), Brahmi 𑀔𑀺𑀗𑁆𑀕𑀺𑀮 (Khiṇgila), the name of a leader of the Alchon Huns, which could prove that the diminutive -ila is of Hunnic origin.

From right plus the informal suffix -y.

From Chinese/Hokkien 烏龍 (o͘-liông), literally "black dragon."

A back-formation from telepathy — the noun came first, and "telepath" was invented later as a shorter word for the person who has the ability.

From Italian Elba, ultimately from Latin Ilva.

A diminutive of Prudence.

From Hebrew כֹּהֵן (kohen), meaning "priest." It later became one of the most common Jewish surnames.

Originally Kirkby, from kirk (“church”) + -by (“habitation”), "village with a church".