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 Mandarin majiang, itself derived from a word meaning "sparrow" with a regional diminutive ending.

From Old English nu, "now," reflecting a dialect pronunciation without the later vowel shift found in standard English.

From snip + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian snippig, snippich (“short, brief, blunt”), Dutch snippig (“snippy, shrill”), German Low German snippig (“snippy, snappy”), German schnippisch (“snippy, snappy”).

From Scots "lum," probably ultimately from a Celtic root related to Welsh "llumon" (chimney), though it may also carry some influence from French/Latin words for "light."

From flit + the suffix -ing.

From Sanskrit बोधि (bodhi), meaning "awakening," from a root meaning "to know."

From Germanic elements meaning "bear" and "hardy, brave." Related to Bernard and Barnard.

Clipping of Wakefield + -y

From pre- (\"before\") plus disposed.

From "reckless" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

From Dutch Moors ("Moorish"), or directly from Moor plus -s.

Borrowed from Dutch Boers.

From Middle English Rode, from Old English rod/rodu and/or hrēod ("reed").

From Middle English Westsex, from Old English Westseaxan (literally “West Saxons”), which stood for both Wessex and its people. The use of Wessex in a modern context for the West Country was popularised by Thomas Hardy, who used the term for his semi-fictional setting based on the region.

From French pessimisme, ultimately from Latin pessimus ("worst"). The philosophical sense was popularized by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in the early 1800s.

From de- ("reverse of") plus stabilize.

As a surname, from Irish Ó Sirideáin.

From Old French avisement, related to advise.

From Arabic wādī l-ḥijāra, "valley of stones" — the Mexican city was named after the Spanish one by Spanish conquistadors.

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 天津 (Tiānjīn, literally “heavenly ford; heavenly crossing”).

From Nahuatl, likely combining acatl ("reed") with elements meaning "big" and "place of" — roughly "place of big reeds."

Variant of Courtenay, an aristocratic Norman surname derived from place names in Normandy, from Latin Curtenus, a personal name from curtus (“short”).

Originally a Yorkshire dialect word from Old Danish klint, meaning a rocky ledge or cliff.

A humorous reference to the sound-effect cliche of chirping crickets used in films and TV to underline silence.