Etymology — The origins of English words

securer

Origin

From secure + -er.

separationist

Origin

From separation + -ist.

sennight

Origin

From Middle English senight, senyght, sinight (“sevennight, a week”) [and other forms], a shortened form of seven-night, sevenight, sevenyght [and other forms], from Late Old English seofeniht (compare seofonnihte (“seven days old; seven days long”, adjective)), from seofon (“seven”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥ (“seven”)) + niht (“night; day (when computing spans of time)”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”)). Doublet of sevennight.

sexable

Origin

From sex + -able.

semasiology

Origin

From Ancient Greek σημασία (sēmasía, “the meaning of a word”) + -ology.

shooketh

Origin

From shook + -eth (as an archaic, formal suffix added to the slang term for ironic humour).

shipload

Origin

From ship + load.

seditious

Origin

From Middle French séditieux, from Latin seditiosus.

scrubby

Origin

From scrub + -y.

scombroid

Origin

From Ancient Greek σκόμβρος (skómbros, “tuna, mackerel”) + -oid.

segregationism

Origin

From segregation + -ism.

seasoner

Origin

From season + -er.

semiosis

Origin

Coined by Charles Sanders Peirce to describe a process that interprets signs as referring to their objects, as described in his theory of sign relations, or semiotics.

seaway

Origin

From Middle English seewey, from Old English sǣweġ (“a seaway, a path through the sea”), equivalent to sea + way. Compare Saterland Frisian Seegong (“seaway, swell”), German Seegang (“seaway, swell”).

selfsome

Origin

From self + -some.

scurrilous

Origin

From Latin scurrīlis (“buffoon-like”) + -ous, from scurra (“a buffoon”).

serviceability

Origin

From serviceable + -ity or service + -ability.

semiotics

Origin

Coined by John Locke from Ancient Greek σημειωτικός (sēmeiōtikós, “fitted for marking, portending”), from σημειόω (sēmeióō, “to mark, interpret as a portend”), from σημεῖον (sēmeîon, “a mark, sign, token”), from σῆμα (sêma, “mark, sign”).

shinbone

Origin

From Middle English schinboon, schineboon, from Old English sċinbān (“shin, shinbone”), from Proto-West Germanic *skinubain, from Proto-Germanic *skinōbainą, equivalent to shin + bone. Cognate with Dutch scheenbeen (“shinbone”), German Schienbein (“shinbone”), Danish skinneben (“shin, shinbone”), Swedish skenben (“shinbone”).

seraphic

Origin

From Medieval Latin seraphicus, from Late Latin seraphīm, seraphīn, from Hebrew שָׂרָף (saráf, “seraph”). By surface analysis, seraph + -ic.

septimate

Origin

Latin septimus (“seventh”) + English -ate, after decimate; compare septimation

semblant

Origin

Borrowed from French semblant. Doublet of simulant.

shrubland

Origin

From shrub + land.

scumminess

Origin

From scummy + -ness.