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 an earlier form "dable," related to "dab," possibly influenced by a Middle Dutch word meaning to fumble or splash about.

A straightforward compound of dark and room.

From gut + the suffix -less ("without").

Simply "mid" + "life".

A compound of nut (slang for a crazy person) and house.

Formed from post (mail) plus the suffix -age, which turns a word into a noun about cost or process.

From French pointe, "point, tip."

Probably a shortening of "hurry-scurry," a rhyming reduplication of "hurry."

A compound of shit and hole.

From stop plus watch.

A compound of "stock" (a company share) and "holder."

From uplift + -ing.

A compound of cell and mate.

From New Latin crematorium, "a place for burning" — built on the same root as "cremate".

A compound of cut and throat, originally describing someone literally willing to slit a throat — a murderer or assassin — before it softened into today's figurative sense of ruthless competition.

A US coinage built from "hydr-" (water) plus the ending "-ant," on the model of words like "hydrate."

From mis- + conduct.

A modern American coinage combining Latin mort- ("death") with the professional suffix "-ician", modeled on words like "physician".

A straightforward combination of "nation" and "wide," meaning spread across the whole country.

From Old French ranche, tracing back to Latin ramex/ramus ("branch"), the same idea of a supporting limb behind the English word "ramus."

From retrieve + -er.

From Middle English hore + hous, a straightforward compound of whore and house.

Borrowed from Spanish papaya, from an Indigenous Caribbean (Lokono) word — a doublet of "pawpaw."

Borrowed from Italian pizzeria, from pizza plus the suffix -eria (matching English "-ery").