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 Jane + -ie.

Anglicised form of Spanish Inés and Portuguese Inês, both from Latin Agnes, from Ancient Greek Ἁγνή (Hagnḗ). First used in 18th century English poetry and plays referring to Inês de Castro. Doublet of Agnes.

Short form of given names ending in -ina, e.g. Georgina, Christina, Wilhelmina.

From gold plus the affectionate suffix "-ie," the same pattern that turns Rob into Robbie.

From Germanic "fridu," meaning "peace."

A feminine counterpart to Frederick and Fred, also used as a short form of Winifred.

Probably linked to "flossy," meaning showy or overly soft, and possibly influenced by Flossie as a nickname for Florence or Flora.

From a 19th-century diminutive of Caroline.

Latinized and Italian variant of the French Estelle.

From German Emil, ultimately from the Roman family name Aemilius, possibly linked to Latin aemulus, "rival."

The letters of the name are meant to represent the capital Greek letters Τ (tau), Ε (epsilon), and Χ (chi), as TeX is an abbreviation of Ancient Greek τέχνη (tékhnē), which is also the root word of technical.

Borrowed from Swedish IKEA.

From quicken + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum, plurals of nouns, and the third-person singular indicative present tense of verbs).

(linguistics): Coined by American linguist John R. Ross in 1967.

Borrowed from Italian Daniele.

From Greek pais/paid-, "child," combined with "-iatric," relating to medical treatment.

* (surname): Borrowed from French Faye or other languages.

A short form of older Germanic names built on irm(en)-, meaning "whole" or "entire"; it shares a root with the name Emma.

A variant spelling of the Spanish name Dolores, meaning "sorrows".

From French Jeannette, from Jeanne + -ette, q.v. Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna.

Coined in the twentieth century from Welsh glân ("holy, fair") and da ("good").

Borrowed from French Carole.

From Biblical Hebrew, meaning "married (woman)," used in the Book of Isaiah as a poetic name for the land of Israel and later adopted by Puritans as a personal name.

From Old English sceacgede, from sceacga (“hair”), from Proto-Germanic *skaggiją (“beard, stem”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek-, *(s)keg- (“to jump, move, hurry”).