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 French Joséphine, the feminine form of Joseph, popularized in English largely through Empress Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon's first wife.

Possibly linked to "gourd," with the wall shape giving the settlement its name.

Borrowed from German Stroh.

From Sanskrit रूप (rūpá), meaning "form, shape, figure."

From tired plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

The gerund/present participle form of masquerade.

Coined in the 1920s from the idea of migrants wading or swimming across the Rio Grande, and later used in the name of a 1954 US government deportation campaign.

From stabilize + the agent suffix -er.

inappropriately

From inappropriate plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

From Old Norse mara — the same root that gives English "nightmare," since a "night-mare" was originally this very demon, not a horse.

Borrowed from Persian چراغ (čirāġ), meaning "lamp, lightsource."

From Persian karvan via French, originally describing groups of merchants or pilgrims travelling together by camel or horse for safety.

From the surname of John D. Rockefeller, the American industrialist who built Standard Oil and became one of history's richest men; his name became shorthand for extreme wealth.

From check + point.

From squiggle + the adjective suffix -y.

A trademark coined by the pharmaceutical company Roche, blending "Roche," "hypno-" (sleep), and the chemical suffix "-ol."

A compound of nose + dive, first used for an aircraft plunging nose-first toward the ground.

From Portuguese anil, itself from Arabic an-nīl ("the indigo"), tracing back through Persian to Sanskrit nīla, meaning "dark blue."

From care + free — literally "free of care."

From "strangle" plus "hold."

Formed from clumsy plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

Borrowed from Hindi वर्मा (varmā). Variant of Varma.

From love plus sick, describing love as if it were an illness.