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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Likely a shortened, playful form related to "teeny weeny."

From Old French enamorer ("to inspire with love"), from amour ("love").

From "fatten" plus "-ing".

Named after Admiral Edward Vernon, nicknamed "Old Grog" for the grogram coat he wore, who in 1740 ordered his sailors' rum to be watered down.

From import + -er.

From crawl + the agent suffix -er, "one that crawls."

Named after the German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947), a founder of quantum theory.

Originally British naval slang linking "firecrackers" to something going off in someone's head — "he's gone crackers" meaning he's lost his mind.

Built from over- + reaction.

From "star" plus the diminutive suffix "-let" (as in "booklet" or "piglet"), literally meaning "a small star."

From twitch plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

From Middle English bondage, originally meaning serfdom, ultimately traced to an Old English word for a householder or tenant farmer bound to a lord's land.

A one-word fusion of "far" and "away."

From Old English hindan ("at the rear"), from Proto-Germanic *hinder.

From husk plus -y, originally describing a voice as dry or rough "like a husk."

Formed simply from "out" plus "back," describing land far back from settled coastal areas.

From para- ("alongside") + legal.

Formed from "perfection" plus the suffix "-ist", denoting a person associated with a trait or belief.

A combination of "soul" and "mate," first used by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1822, though it didn't become common until the 1980s.

A playful shortening of the older phrase "toodle-oo," itself likely a jokey British coinage with no serious origin.

A playful blend of "work" and "alcoholic," coined to compare an addiction to work with an addiction to alcohol.

Formed in English from a- plus "rouse".

A blend of bull and crap, used as a softer substitute for a more vulgar equivalent.

From Greek karōtides, related to a verb meaning "to stupefy" — ancient anatomists noticed that pressing on these arteries could cause someone to lose consciousness.