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 Spanish, derived from Latin "Paulus," the same root as the English name Paul.

From Middle English lously; equivalent to loose + -ly.

A learned borrowing from Latin moderator, first recorded in Middle English as moderatour, built from "moderate" plus the agent suffix "-or."

From Anglo-Norman burgeis, related to "borough" and "bourgeois", ultimately from a Germanic word for a fortified town.

From butter plus ball.

Borrowed from French chiffon, originally meaning "rag" or "scrap of cloth," ultimately related to the English word "chip."

From Middle English crike/crykke, "a muscle spasm," possibly related to Old Norse kriki ("a bend or nook") — the same root that gave us "creek."

From flirtation + the adjective-forming suffix -ous.

From forget + -able.

From Latin irrigatus, the past participle of irrigare, "to water" or "flood."

A straightforward compound of man and hole — an opening just wide enough for a person to climb through.

A blend name built from parts of its chemical description — roughly "dimethylamino" + "diphenyl" + "heptanone" — reflecting its molecular structure.

From "mouth" plus "-y."

A straightforward compound of name and tag.

Blended from Indo- and China, modeled on the French Indochine; the name was first suggested in the early 1800s by the Scottish orientalist John Leyden.

From over- + estimate.

Built from over- + rule.

Borrowed from Italian prosciutto ("ham"), thought to derive from a Vulgar Latin word related to exsuctus ("dried out, sucked dry").

psychotherapist

From psychotherapy + -ist.

A fusion of "roller" and "coaster", describing the ride's rolling, coasting motion.

A clipped form of "schizophrenic".

From sea + plane; the term is sometimes credited to Winston Churchill.

From Old French sur la longe, literally "above the loin."

From Middle French "esquif," traced back through Italian to a Germanic word for "boat" — the same root as "ship."