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.

Browse etymology by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Recently added

Scottish Gaelic

From Scottish Gaelic cala ("harbor") + gearraidh ("pasture").

From Biblical Hebrew for the Hittites, which traces to the Hittites' own name for their land, Hatti. Confusingly, the term was applied in the early 20th century to the Indo-European-speaking Anatolian civilization now called Hittite, even though it was originally mixed up with a related but separate people, the Hattians.

From Old English rinc, "man" or "warrior," which came to mean an enclosed course for contests before narrowing to its modern ice-skating sense.

From Old French rincier, "to rinse or cleanse," of uncertain deeper origin.

Possibly from German Gott ("God").

From Richard + -s.

From oppose plus the suffix "-able."

From Latin retrahere, "to draw back" — from re- ("back") + trahere ("to pull").

* As an English surname, variant of Colin. * As an Irish and Manx surname, from Ó Coileáin (“descendant of Coileán”), see Cullen, McQuillan, and McCallion. * As a French surname, Americanized from Collin and Colette. * As a Slovene surname, Americanized from Kolenc, from koleno (“knee”) and the obsolete kolenc (“nipplewort”).

From "cart" plus the agent suffix "-er" — literally "one who carts."

From mis- + conception, "a wrongly formed idea."

From Latin commentator ("author, interpreter"), related to "comment."

From Middle English clenly, clenliche, clanly, from Old English clǣnlīċ (“cleanly, pure, excellent”), equivalent to clean + -ly.

Formed from "cleanly" plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

A shortened, affectionate form of "husband."

From snap + the adjective-forming suffix -y.

Formed from find plus the suffix -er, meaning "one who does."

From process + the past-tense suffix -ed.

Originally a trademark of the Celluloid Manufacturing Company; formed from cellulose plus "-oid," meaning "resembling."

A slurred, run-together pronunciation of "that's the boy!"

A blend of cellulose and diaphane ("transparent"); originally a trademarked product name.

Borrowed from French Gabrielle, the feminine form of Gabriel.

Subscribe plus the agent suffix -er.