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 French publiciste, built from public plus the agent suffix -ist.

A straightforward compound of club and house — a house belonging to a club.

The interjection is a shortened, casual version of "oops"; the programming verb is simply the abbreviation OOP (object-oriented programming) turned into a verb.

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 鄭 /郑 (Zhèng).

From purse plus the agent suffix -er, originally referring to someone who managed the ship's money.

From Middle English clansere, clenser, clensere; equivalent to cleanse + -er.

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Traced by some to Scots dialect words for "duck" or "dunk," originally used jokingly of Baptists who dunk people underwater during baptism.

From Middle English mang, a variant of "among," from Old English on gemang.

From the Mandarin word zhàng.

From sop + -y. The "overly sentimental" sense is unrelated to the similar-sounding "sappy," despite the overlap in meaning.

From "Christ" plus the agent suffix "-er."

Formed from "bruise" plus "-er" — literally "one who bruises (others)".

From short (crumbly) + cake.

From wake + field.

From Scots snoot, a variant of "snout," ultimately from Middle Dutch snute.

A diminutive formed by adding "-y" to names like Don or Donald.

from Chris + -ie, through clipping of Christine or Christina

As a given name, a diminutive of Bernard (male) or Bernice/Bernadette (female); the dog-breed sense comes from clipping "Bernese."

Diminutives + -y.

Clipping of Stewart + -ie.

Formed from Scott plus the diminutive ending -y.

A shortened, affectionate form of the name Scott, formed with the diminutive ending -ie.

English place name "wood or clearing of Kyneburga (a seventh century female saint)", from Old English cyne- (“royal”) + burh (“fortress”) + lēah (“leigh, clearing”).