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 four plus the suffix -some, meaning "a group of."

Short for "gothic", a term first applied to a dark, moody style of rock music in the late 1970s, itself borrowed from the term for the medieval Gothic period and its brooding fiction.

From enjoy + -able.

A shortened, informal clipping of "glamour" or "glamorous."

From grounds plus keeper.

From Middle French combustible, built from combust plus the adjective suffix -ible.

From Old English gristel, related to "grist" — the ground grain word — though the exact connection between the two is uncertain.

From Middle English sukeling, built from suck plus -ling (a suffix marking someone or something young or small). Related to German Säugling and Dutch zuigeling, which mean the same thing.

From Old English clif ("cliff") plus tun ("town"), literally "town by the cliff."

From Latin subiugō, "to make subject" — from sub- ("under") plus iugum ("a yoke"), the same root that gives us "yoke."

From Old English crycc ("staff, crutch"), related to words in other Germanic languages for a bent support.

From Latin delirium, "madness" or "derangement," related to delirare, "to go off the furrow" — literally, to stray off track while plowing.

From an Arabic name recorded historically as "port of ibn Ghazi," referring to a local Muslim holy man.

From "air" plus "fare" (the price of a journey).

Anglicized from Irish Aodhán, a diminutive of Aodh, the name of a Celtic fire god, and also borne by an early Irish saint.

From Old French recompense, from Medieval Latin recompensa — built from re- and compensare, "to weigh against, make up for," the same root as "compensate."

From Late Latin monumentalis, built on Latin monumentum ("monument") plus the adjective suffix -al.

From Latin incinerātus, "reduced to ashes," from cinis, "ashes" — the same root as "cinder."

From "mega-" (great) plus "-phone" (sound), literally "great sound."

From Middle English words for mud and mire, ultimately related to the Old English root behind "slush" — sludge and slush share a common muddy ancestor.

Italian · 1940

The exclamation was adopted by American paratroopers in the 1940s in tribute to the Apache leader Geronimo; the name itself is an Italian form equivalent to the English name Jerome.

Formed from block plus the noun suffix -age.

From Greek dialysis ("a separating"), from dia- ("through") + lysis ("loosening").

Deverbal from drop out.