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 French documentaire, from document.

Formed from backward plus the adverbial ending -s, in the same pattern as "afterwards" or "towards."

A playful comparison between a bulging bicep and the swollen body of a python that has just swallowed a large meal.

From Ancient Greek Sisyphos, the name of the mythical king.

A blend of "pulsating" and "star," coined in the late 1960s after astronomers Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell discovered the first one.

From Middle English soleyn, "alone," from Old French sole, "single." The meaning shifted from "solitary" to "morose" during Middle English.

Variant of Berkeley.

From Old English hearwa or Old Norse-related forms; the verb sense of "torment" grew out of an older link with harry, "to harass."

From Old English hælftre, related to a word meaning "harness."

From the Koine Greek Lāzaros, from Hebrew Elʻazar, meaning "God has helped."

From Middle English schoderen, related to Dutch and German words meaning "to shake."

From Old English þyrlian, "to pierce," related to thirl (an old word for a hole) — the sense shifted from a physical piercing to the figurative feeling of being "pierced" by excitement.

Borrowed from Arabic بُهَار (buhār), itself likely from an Egyptian Arabic dialect form.

From Old French camphore, via Medieval Latin from Arabic kafur, ultimately traced back to a Malay word, kapur.

From Middle French hospitable, built on the same Latin root as "hospitality" and "host."

From hamster + -y.

From green (environmentalism) plus peace, reflecting its founding anti-nuclear and environmental protest roots.

A compound of big and time, originally show-business slang for the top level of a profession.

From confession + -al.

From Greek symptomatikos, "of or pertaining to a symptom."

From soul + -less, going back to an Old English word with the same meaning.

From the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta, whose citizens were famous for austere living and rigorous military discipline.

From Latin speculārī ("to watch, observe, spy"), from specula ("a watchtower") — originally about "keeping watch," it drifted toward "forming a theory" and later "taking a financial gamble."

From Latin dissonantia, from dis- + sonare ("to sound").