Where words come from An etymology dictionary of word origins across languages
Tracing the origins of words in English, Latin and a growing number of other languages: their roots, borrowings, and how their meanings changed. Every etymology is cited to published sources.
32,081 word histories in 15 languages, and growing.
Word of the day
It is borrowed from Middle French réaliser (“to make real”), from real (“actual”) and the suffix -iser, from the same source as real.
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Popular English word origins
- quarantine
It is borrowed from Italian quarantina, from Italian quaranta giorni “space of forty days”, from Italian quaranta (“forty”), from Latin quadrāgintā (“forty”). The name comes from…
- salary
From Middle English salarie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman salarie, compare Old French salaire, from Latin salārium (“pension, salary”), a noun use of the neuter of Latin salārius…
- nostalgia
Recorded in English in 1726, borrowed from New Latin nostalgia, coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer in a dissertation at the University of Basel as a rendering of German Heimweh…
- sabotage
It is borrowed from French sabotage, from French saboter (“to walk noisily; to bungle”), from French sabot (“wooden shoe”). The OED glosses saboter as “to make a noise with…
- mortgage
From Middle English morgage, borrowed from Old French mort gage (“dead pledge”) (13th century), from mort “dead” (from Latin mortuus) + gage “pledge”, of Germanic origin. The -t-…
- disaster
It is borrowed from Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro (“ill-starred”), from pejorative dis- + astro “star”, from Latin astrum (“star”), from Ancient Greek ἄστρον…
- nice
From Middle English nice (“foolish, stupid”), borrowed from Old French nice (“simple, foolish, silly”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”), from ne- “not” + sciō “to…
- silly
A later form of Middle English sely, seli, inherited from Old English gesǣlig (“happy, fortunate, blessed”), related to sǣl “happiness”, from Proto-Germanic *sæligas. Compare…
- serendipity
Coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to Horace Mann of 28 January 1754, formed from English Serendip + -ity, after the title of the fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip…
- sincere
First recorded in the 1530s, borrowed from Middle French sincere, from Latin sincērus (“whole, clean, pure; genuine”), a word of uncertain origin. Watkins explains it as…
- deadline
Formed from English dead + line.
- berserk
From berserker, a Norse warrior, a word introduced (as berserkar) by Sir Walter Scott in The Pirate (1822). It is borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“raging warrior of superhuman…
Recently added
- eject English
It is inherited from Middle English ejecten (“to expel”), borrowed from Latin ēiectus (“thrown out”), the past participle of ēiciō (“to throw out, cast out, expel”), formed from…
- be English
It is inherited from Middle English been, inherited from Old English bēon (“to be, exist, come to be, become, happen”), from Proto-Germanic *beuną, from Proto-Indo-European…
- certainly English
It is formed from English certain + -ly in Middle English. Certain is from Old French certain (“reliable, sure”), from Vulgar Latin *certānus, an extended form of Latin certus…
- narcotic English
It is inherited from Middle English narcotik, borrowed from Old French narcotique, a noun use of the adjective, and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin narcōticum, from Ancient…
- tremble English
It is inherited from Middle English tremblen, earlier tremlen, borrowed from Old French trembler (“to tremble, fear”), from Vulgar Latin *tremulō, recorded in Medieval Latin with…
- much English
It is inherited from Middle English muche, also miche, shortened from Middle English muchel (“large, great, much”), also michel, which continues from Old English micel (“great in…
- appraise English
It is inherited from Middle English appreisen, also apreisen and apraisen, probably borrowed from Old French aprisier (“to appraise, set a price on”), from Late Latin appretiō…
- think English
It is inherited from Middle English thenken, later thinken, inherited from Old English þencan (“to conceive in the mind, think”) (past tense þōhte), inherited from Proto-Germanic…
- retinue English
It is inherited from Middle English retenue, borrowed from Anglo-Norman retenue and retenue, the noun use of the feminine past participle of retenir (“to retain, hold back; to…
- bier English
It is inherited from Middle English bere, inherited from Old English bǣr (West Saxon), Anglian bēr, inherited from Proto-Germanic *bērō, from the stem of beran (“to carry”), the…
- feel English
It is inherited from Middle English felen, inherited from Old English fēlan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan. Old English also had the prefixed gefēlan, which is more…
- recline English
It is inherited from Middle English reclinen, borrowed from Middle French recliner and directly borrowed from Latin reclīnō (“to bend back, lean back; to lay down”), formed from…
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What is etymology?
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and of how their form and meaning have changed over time. A word may have been inherited from an older stage of its language, as English words were from Old English and French ones from Latin; borrowed from another language; built from older parts; or named after a person or place. Its meaning may have narrowed, widened or reversed along the way. Nice once meant “foolish”, and a salary was named from the Latin word for salt.
About Etymologically
Entries explain where a word comes from, what it first meant, and how its meaning shifted over time, with a timeline and a tree of related words across languages. Statements are footnoted to a dictionary or scholarly work listed on our sources page, and every edit is kept in the entry's public history.
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