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 Dzongkha ལའུ་རི་ (la'u ri).

From heart + breaking.

Named after the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, famous for the red shirt he wore.

Coined for Star Trek, blending tri- (its three main scanning functions) with (re)corder.

From "newspaper" plus "man."

Etymology tree Italian Ferraribor. English Ferrari Borrowed from Italian Ferrari.

A clipped, informal form of "BMW" with "-er" added, the way slang nicknames often form.

From Middle English rosen (“made of roses; rosy”), from Old English rōsen (“of roses; rosy”), equivalent to rose + -en.

From mis- + judge.

From the Old English personal name Ælfrēd + -ing (“called after”) + tūn (“estate”), literally, “estate named after Alfred”. Many of the place names in the United States derive from Arlington House, formerly the plantation of Robert E. Lee.

From "chew" plus the informal "-ie" ending.

From the older phrase "tag and rag," combining "rag" and "tag" to describe a disorderly mixed crowd.

From mope + -y.

From night + dress.

Borrowed from German Edelstein ("gemstone", literally "noble stone").

From Japanese JK, an abbreviation of joshi kōsei ("high-school girl").

From Latin novicius, "newly arrived," from novus, "new" — also used historically for someone newly entered into a religious order.

From mis- + direction.

From Hungarian Ilona. A rare variant of Helen or Helena.

From Spanish Magdalena, ultimately from the biblical epithet "of Magdala," shared with the English names Magdalene and Madeline.

Named after Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, though the French themselves connected the word to a term for a naval kitchen or barracks.

From French Hélène, ultimately from the same Greek root as Helen and Helena.

From "mid-" + "town".

A compound of "middle" and "weight," naming the boxing division that falls between the lighter and heavier weight classes.