Etymology — The origins of English words

sconce

Origin

From Middle English sconce, sconse (“candlestick or lantern (with screen)”), from Old French esconse (“lantern”), from Latin absconsus (“hidden”), perfect passive participle of abscondō (“hide”). Cognate with abscond.

senatorial

Origin

From Latin senātōrius + -al. Compare French sénatorial. By surface analysis, senator + -ial.

serekh

Origin

Learned borrowing from Egyptian s-r:x-O33 (srḫ, “palace façade”).

sensorial

Origin

Either sensorium + -al or sensory + -al. Ultimately from Latin sentiō.

scranch

Origin

Compare Dutch schransen (“to eat greedily”), German schranzen. Compare crunch, scrunch.

seagoing

Origin

From sea + going.

secretor

Origin

From secrete + -or.

sematology

Origin

From Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma, “mark, sign”) + Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study”).

shovelful

Origin

From shovel + -ful.

shover

Origin

From shove + -er (“agent suffix”).

sextet

Origin

From French sextette, from Italian sestetto.

shlenter

Origin

From Afrikaans slenter (“ploy, scam, stroll, saunter”).

screwfaced

Origin

From screwface + -ed.

seme

Origin

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma).

shashlik

Origin

Borrowed from Russian шашлы́к (šašlýk), from Crimean Tatar şışlıq / шишлик (şişlik, “something to be cooked on a skewer”), ultimately from Turkic; compare Turkish şaşlık/ şişlik. Doublet of chislic.

sematic

Origin

From Ancient Greek σήμᾰτος (sḗmătos), genitive of σῆμᾰ (sêmă, “sign, mark, token”), + -ic.

scurf

Origin

From scurf (“skin disease causing scabs or scales; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease, etc.”), from Old English scurf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (“to gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”). Cognate with Dutch schurft, German Schorf, Danish skurv, Swedish skorv.

shrive

Origin

From Middle English schryven, from Old English sċrīfan (“1. to decree, pass judgement, prescribe, 3. (of a priest) to prescribe penance or absolution”), from Proto-West Germanic *skrīban, from late Proto-Germanic *skrībaną, a borrowing from Latin scrībō (“write”). Compare West Frisian skriuwe (“to write”), Low German schrieven (“to write”), Dutch schrijven (“to write”), German schreiben (“to write”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skrive (“to write”), Swedish skriva (“to write”), Icelandic skrifa (“to write”). More at scribe and scribble.

shako

Origin

Borrowed from French shako, from Hungarian csákó (“cylindrical military dress hat worn by the Hungarian hussars from the 18th century to World War I”).

sericin

Origin

From a derivative of Latin sēricus.

shedload

Origin

From shed + load; possibly a minced form of shitload, given the sound similarity (front vowel, consonance, metre).

shiss

Origin

Blend of shit + piss.

scurrility

Origin

From scurril(ous) + -ity, from Latin scurrilitas.

screwable

Origin

From screw + -able.