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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Possibly a shortened, diminutive form of "anonymous."

From search + light.

From Latin Scotia, "Scotland," literally "land of the Scots" — the architectural sense is unrelated and comes from a separate Greek root for "shadow."

From "strait" ("restrictive") plus "jacket."

From incredible plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

From Greek paralytikos, related to paralysis.

From Ancient Greek kallos ("beauty") and sthenos ("strength"), combined with the English suffix "-ics."

Variant of Kyra or borrowed from Russian Ки́ра (Kíra), ultimately from Persian کوروش (Kūrūš). Also used as a respelling of Ciara, from Irish [Term?].

From Medieval Latin metaphysicalis, ultimately from meta- + physical.

Onomatopoeic, imitating the sound itself.

A clipped, informal shortening of "San Francisco."

From German Bernstein, literally "amber."

A clipped, informal form of "generator".

From Middle English wranglyng, wranglinge, equivalent to wrangle + -ing.

From ground plus breaking, referring to the literal breaking of ground at the start of a construction project.

A reduplication combining sing and song.

From acknowledge + -ing.

From horizontal + -ly.

From soap + -y. Compare German Low German sepig (“soapy”), German seifig (“soapy”), Swedish såpig (“soapy”).

From the verb widow plus the past-participle ending -ed.

From weight plus the suffix -less ("without").

So named because sufferers historically bent over in pain, a posture that also echoed a fashionable stooped walk of the era nicknamed "the Grecian bend."

From Middle English hilly, from hill + -y.

From Old English wæterod, formed from water plus the -ed suffix.