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 late Middle English congie, from Old French congié, congiet (modern French congé), from Latin commeātus (“passage, permission to leave”), from commeō (“to go and come”), from con- + meō (“to go, to pass”). Figurative senses generally borrowed from developments in French congé.

Named after the former Tosa province on the Japanese island of Shikoku, where the breed originated.

From squirrel + -ly, first recorded around 1925, likely inspired by squirrels' erratic darting movements.

A back-formed verb from "taser," treating the "-er" ending as a normal verb suffix.

A clipped form of "robot," widely used as a combining prefix (as in "robocall," "robo-advisor").

From wipe plus the agent suffix -er.

Borrowed from the Japanese surname 高木 (Takagi), literally "tall tree."

From Latin segmentum, "a piece cut off," from secare, "to cut."

Traces back to dialectal English words for "to trick" and "to totter," possibly reinforced by the swindling character Jeremy Diddler in an early-1800s play.

From overpower + -ed.

Borrowed from Māori miro, the name of the tree.

Borrowed directly from Japanese 蓑 (mino).

From Spanish mancha ("stain, spot"), also the name of the La Mancha region famous for saffron production.

Borrowed directly from Hawaiian mamo.

A plain compound of "water" and "hole." In radio astronomy the term was borrowed by scientist Bernard Oliver in 1971 for a quiet band of the radio spectrum between hydrogen and hydroxyl emission lines, on the idea that alien civilizations might use this "quiet" frequency range to communicate — much like animals gathering at a literal waterhole.

From water + bed.

A clipped form of "cosmopolitan."

From the Hebrew name דְּבוֹרָה (Dvora), meaning "bee".

From Deborah plus "-y"; the adjective sense is an informal derivation from "debutante".

A clipping of Sebastian.

An English habitational surname from places named Glinton or Glympton, from Old English + tūn ("enclosure, homestead, town").

Traces back through Latin and Greek to the Biblical Hebrew word for "dove," the same root behind the name Jonah.

The clothing sense is unrelated to the given name Maud, which comes from Old French Mahaut, a doublet of Matilda.

From Old French Lambert, a saint's name brought to England by the Normans, ultimately from Germanic elements meaning "land" and "bright."