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 French piquet, from piquer ("to pierce").

From Old English, related to old words for drinking or swigging.

Borrowed from Hokkien 麵 (mī), meaning "noodles."

First recorded in 1848 New York; likely from Dutch hoekje, meaning "corner" or "hiding spot," tied to hide-and-seek games.

From "news" plus "reel," referring to a reel of film.

Named after Dartmoor, the moorland and national park in Devon where the breed developed, itself named from the River Dart plus Old English "mōr" ("moor").

From Pete + -y.

A compound of "skin" and "head," describing the closely shaved hairstyle.

A straightforward compound of cook and out, describing food cooked and eaten outdoors.

From shameful plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

From the 1972 novel and film "The Stepford Wives," in which the women of a fictional town are secretly replaced by docile, perfectly obedient robotic duplicates.

A surname borrowed from various European languages, all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *Kōnirād, a male given name.

From undress plus the suffix -ing.

From spread plus the agent suffix "-er".

From brief plus the suffix -ing.

From "recluse" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ive."

By surface analysis, ground + -ing.

From Japanese kosupure, itself a blend of the English words "costume" and "play."

From Latin samara ("elm seed"), traced back to a Gaulish word related to a Celtic root for "summer."

From "bio-" (life) and "-metrics" (measurement).

From "bio-" (life) and "-metric" (measuring), reflecting the measurement of biological traits.

From Germanic "fridu," meaning "peace."

A straightforward compound of thunder and bird, translating names used in various Indigenous North American languages for this mythic creature.

Popularized by the American writer Zane Grey (born Pearl Zane Gray), whose middle name was his mother's family surname.