Etymology — The origins of English words

shoestring

Origin

The noun is derived from shoe + string. The adjective is derived from the noun, while the verb is derived from terms such as shoestring catch and shoestring tackle.

seraph

Origin

Back-formation of singular from plural seraphim, from Latin seraphim, from Biblical Hebrew שְׂרָפִים (sərāp̄īm), plural form of שָׂרָף (sārāp̄). The plural "seraphims" occurs in the King James Bible (Isaiah chapter 6). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the singular "seraph" may have originated with John Milton, who used it in Book I of Paradise Lost (1667).

scummy

Origin

From scum + -y.

scrote

Origin

Clipping of scrotum.

senex

Origin

From Latin senex.

scutch

Origin

From Middle English *scucchen, from Anglo-Norman escucher, from Vulgar Latin *excuticāre.

seg

Origin

From Middle English segge, from Old English seċġ (“man, warrior, hero”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagi, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaz (“follower, retainer, warrior”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow, accompany”). Cognate with Norwegian segg, Icelandic seggur (“bully”).

shellac

Origin

From shell + lac, calque of French laque en écailles (literally “lac in scales/shells”).

scuddick

Origin

Perhaps from sceat (“a small Saxon coin”).

shipmaster

Origin

From Middle English schypmayster, schypmester, equivalent to ship + master.

shawhan

Origin

Variant of Sheehan.

scrot

Origin

Perhaps related to scrote and/or scrotty.

shikigami

Origin

From Japanese 式(しき)神(がみ) (shikigami).

showstopping

Origin

From show + stopping.

scorecard

Origin

From score + card.

seamy

Origin

From seam + -y.

showpiece

Origin

From show + piece.

screenland

Origin

From screen + -land.

sexagenarian

Origin

From Latin sexāgēnārius (“containing 60”) + -an (forming adjectives and representative nouns), either directly or via French sexagénaire, from Latin sexāgēnus (“60 each”) + -ārius (“-ary”), from sexāgintā (“six tens, 60”).

scup

Origin

Shortened form of Narragansett mishcùp (“porgy”) or its plural mishcùppaûog. The singular was also borrowed as mishcup, while another shortening of the plural yields the synonym paugie. The word was also borrowed as scuppaug.

shoshana

Origin

Borrowed from Hebrew שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (shoshána).

sememe

Origin

Ultimately from Ancient Greek σημαίνω (sēmaínō, “I signify, I mean”) + -eme. Compare morpheme.

seel

Origin

From Middle English sel, sele, from Old English *sǣle (“good, fortunate, happy”) (attested in Old English unsǣle (“evil, wicked”)), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz (“good, happy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- (“to calm, quiet, be favourable”). Cognate with Danish sæl (“blissful”), Dutch zalig (“blissful”), Gothic 𐍃𐌴𐌻𐍃 (sēls, “good, kind, useful”), Icelandic sæll (“blissful”), Latin sōlor (“to comfort, console”), Swedish säll (“blissful”).

sextate

Origin

Latin sextus (“sixth”) + English -ate; compare quintate, septimate, and decimate