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 "kid" + the diminutive suffix "-ie."

Formed from co- ("together") plus operative, following the same pattern as cooperate.

Simply sub- ("under") added to committee.

From Middle English mydlonde, simply "mid" + "land" — the land in the middle.

From skin (“to remove skin”, verb) + -ed (suffix forming past tenses).

From Old English hēahland, a straightforward compound of high and land, also found in similar forms across the Germanic languages.

A straightforward compound of hall + way.

The French form of the Latin name Antonius, a doublet of Anthony.

Named after the Society of the Cincinnati, itself named for the Roman statesman Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus.

Recorded in the Domesday Book as "Creu", from an Old Welsh word meaning "weir" or "crossing".

From Dick + -y.

Borrowed from German Leipzig, from Slavic.

Coined by Sir Philip Sidney around 1590 for a character in his romance "Arcadia", from Greek "pan" (all) and "meli" (honey).

From the Middle Irish name Mac Bethad, meaning "son of life."

From French Calais, tracing back to a Gaulish tribal name recorded in Latin as Caletum.

Borrowed from Cantonese 余 (jyu⁴) or Taishanese 余 (yi³) or Hokkien 余 (Î) or Cantonese 爾 /尔 (ji⁵).

The pronoun sense traces back to an Old English word for "she"; the "peninsula" sense comes from an unrelated Old English word for a spur of raised land, seen today in English place names like the Hoo Peninsula.

Unrelated in this slang sense to the borrowed Sanskrit word geet meaning "song," which is also used as a given name.

A Latinized form derived from Old English "Norþanhymbre," meaning "north of the Humber."

From Middle English Bedforde, Bedeford, from Old English Bedaford, Bedanford, equivalent to Bede's + ford. The civil parish is named after John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (1710 - 1771). Coined by British-Dutch surveyor Samuel Holland.

Derived from Old Norse Óláfr.

A compound of court and room.

The plural of "Tory," a term originally used in 17th-century Britain for supporters of the king's authority, later adopted by the Conservative Party.

A clipped form of a longer name such as Mildred, with the diminutive ending "-y".