Etymology — The origins of English words

Bonaparte

Italian

From Italian buona, "good," and parte, "part, share."

Amarillo

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish amarillo ("yellow, golden").

jigsaw

Origin

From "jig" (referring to the saw's jerking motion) plus "saw."

excelsior

Latin · 1841

From Latin excelsior, "higher," the comparative of excelsus ("high"). The rallying-cry sense comes from Longfellow's 1841 poem "Excelsior" and was later popularized by Marvel editor Stan Lee.

Lycra

Origin

Originally a trademarked brand name coined by DuPont for its stretch fibre, now used generically.

foreclose

Old French

From Old French forclore ("to exclude"), from for- ("outside") + clore ("to close").

flagrant

Latin

From Latin flagrantem, "burning, blazing," the present participle of flagrare, "to burn" — the sense shifted from literal burning to "glaringly obvious," as if blazing for all to see.

unfashionable

Origin

From un- + fashionable.

frig

Middle English

From Middle English friggen (“to quiver”), perhaps from Old English *frygian (“to rub, caress”), related to Old English frēogan, frīgan (“to love, release, embrace, caress”), frīge (pl., “love”). Compare also Faroese fríggj (“erotocism, sex, flirtation”), Old English ġefrīgian (“to embrace”). More at free. Alternative etymology derives frig (Early Modern English frigge), from Middle English frikien (“to keep (the arms and hands) in constant motion”), from Old English frician (“to dance”).

Cassiopeia

Ancient Greek

From Latin Cassiopeia, borrowed from Ancient Greek Kassiópeia.

PRATT

Origin

An initialism formed from "point refuted a thousand times," coined in online debate communities.

Mira

Latin · 1662

The star was named by astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1662, from Latin mirus ("wonderful").

napa

Japanese

From the Japanese term 菜っ葉 (nappa), meaning "leafy greens."

infidelity

Latin

From Latin infidelitas, built on infidelis ("unfaithful") — see infidel.

gon

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek gōnía, meaning "angle."

awkwardly

Origin

From awkward + -ly.

clunk

Origin

An imitative word — it simply sounds like the noise it describes.

debonair

Old French

From Old French de bon aire, literally "of good stock" or "of good breeding."

vizier

Arabic

From Ottoman Turkish vezir, from Arabic wazir, "helper, minister" — a doublet of the English word wazir.

Isaiah

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Ēsaḯas, from Hebrew yəšaʿyā́hū.

Jain

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit jaina, related to the word for spiritual "conqueror" or "victor."

sprinter

Origin

From sprint plus the agent suffix "-er".

damnable

Latin

From Old French dampnable, from Latin damnabilis, built on the same root as "damn."

nori

Japanese

From Japanese "nori" (海苔), the word for this type of edible seaweed.