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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Variant of Hawkin

A compound of sun and bathe.

Built from re- (\"again\") plus decorate, itself from Latin decorare, \"to adorn.\"

extraordinarily

Formed from "extraordinary" + the adverb suffix -ly.

Named after Jack Foley, a sound effects pioneer at Universal Studios in the early 20th century.

Probably a blend of "blob" and "gob," or a shortened form of "globule" — the sound of the word matches its lumpy meaning.

From up + scale, first used as an adjective in 1966 and as a verb in 1963.

From re- ("again") plus focus.

Proposed in 1852 by Charles Hoag as a blend of the Dakota word mnihaha ("waterfall") and Greek polis ("city").

From foresee + -able.

From "heart" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ed," used almost always attached to another word describing character.

From sound (in the sense of "to measure depth") + -er.

Deverbal from buy out.

Invented by a Swedish novelist in the 1840s; later folk tradition linked it to Greek thélēma, "will," though that connection was added after the fact.

From French déployer ("to unroll, unfold"), from Old French desploiier, ultimately related to Latin displicare ("to unfold, scatter") — a doublet of "display."

From man + power.

From Latin Matthias.

From suburb plus -ia, likely modeled on the Latin plural suburbia ("suburbs").

Anglicized from Irish Ó Baoithghill, possibly from baoth ("vain, foolish") and geall ("pledge").

From thunder + the adjective ending -ous.

From "cock" (as in woodcock, the bird these dogs were bred to hunt) plus the agent suffix "-er."

Borrowed from German Goethe.

From Old French treis, "three," ultimately from Latin tres — a doublet of three and tres, now mostly surviving in card games and basketball slang.

A straightforward combination of "alley" and "way."