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 "strangle" plus the agent suffix "-er."

A compound of "side" and "show".

Borrowed from Latin Paula, feminine form of Paulus (“Paul”).

From off plus load.

From gamble + the agent suffix -er.

From Ancient Greek asphaltos, meaning "bitumen" — a naturally occurring tar-like substance.

Borrowed from Middle French désertion.

A learned borrowing directly from Latin culpa ("fault, blame").

From "face" plus "book," echoing the printed student directories ("facebooks") that US colleges once handed out, which the website was originally modeled on.

From Arabic ṭāriq, meaning a night visitor or a morning star, related to a verb meaning to knock.

From Roger + -s; a doublet of Rutgers.

From Hindi/Punjabi सिंघ/ਸਿੰਘ (siṅgh), meaning "lion."

From Middle English chapman ("trader"), a compound of cheap (in its old sense of "buying and selling," as in Cheapside) and man. It shares this root with the surnames Kaufman and Koopman.

* As an English surname, from the noun forester. * Also as an English surname, borrowed from French fustrier (“blockmaker”), from fustre (“baulk of timber”). * As a French and Norman surname, from Old French forcetier (“cutter”), from forcettes (“scissors”). * As a German surname, spelling variant of Förster and Först (both related to Forst (“forest”)).

From Arabic أَحْمَد (ahmad), "most praiseworthy"; also traditionally used as another name for the Prophet Muhammad.

* As an English surname, from the Middle English personal name Elis, an Old French form of Elias. Compare Elijah, Lias, Ely. Also sometimes from the Elice, a pet form of Elizabeth. * As a Welsh surname, shortened from the personal name Elisse, Elisedd, from the archaic elus (“benevolent, kind”).

From Middle English Ander ("Andrew") + -son, after Saint Andrew, patron saint of Scotland.

From Middle English Sym, diminutive of Simeon and Simon.

From Middle English Sympson, equivalent to Sim, the short form of Simon, + -son.

From the Irish surname Murphy, once used as a nickname for potatoes because of their strong association with Irish cooking and farming.

An English occupational surname for someone who ran a mill, later adopted as a common noun and given name.

From Medieval Latin immaterialis, "not made of matter," formed from "im-" ("not") plus "material."

From illustrate + -or.

From ice + breaker; the social sense comes from the idiom "to break the ice."