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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Borrowed from French turbine, from Latin turbo, turbinem, meaning "whirlwind" or "spinning top."

From Japanese ema, literally "picture-horse" — plaques originally often depicted horses, once offered live to shrines.

The South African slang sense comes from Afrikaans broer ("brother"), shortened in everyday speech — a cousin of English "bro" that developed independently.

From hoard plus -ing.

Formed from "arouse" plus the noun-forming suffix "-al".

From night + club.

From Old French magnificence, going back to Latin magnificentia, built on magnificus, "doing great things".

From Old French chasteté, from Latin castitas — related to "chaste."

From French déporter, from Latin deportare ("to carry away"), from de- ("away") and portare ("to carry").

Transliteration of Tamil மச்சான் (maccāṉ)

Formed from thrust plus -er; the surfboard sense was coined by surfboard designer Simon Anderson in 1980 and quickly became the generic name for that fin setup.

From Old French escamper, "to escape," itself from Vulgar Latin roots meaning "to flee the field" — related to "escape."

From "un-" + "load."

From Middle English unfeithful — simply un- (\"not\") added to faithful.

From Old English clot, related to "clot" and "cloud" — originally meaning a lump or mass.

From Latin effusio, "a pouring out," related to effundere, "to pour forth."

From chunk + the adjective-forming suffix -y.

From Latin seductio, "a leading astray," from the same root as "seduce."

From back + woods, describing forest lying beyond settled areas.

Traced back to Latin saccus ("bag"), through a diminutive form that passed via Old French sachel into Middle English by the 1300s.

From dally plus the suffix -ance, ultimately from Old French dalier ("to chat, to flirt").

From Old English personal name Wine, in the genitive singular case Wines + tūn (“farm, village”).

From early-19th-century dialect (Suffolk), probably from "troll" ("to trundle, roll") plus the diminutive ending "-ey."

From Latin seduct-, the past-participle stem of seducere ("to lead astray"), plus the adjective ending -ive.