Learn etymology

How do we know that father and Latin pater are the same word, or that nice once meant “foolish”? How can anyone know words in a language that was never written down? These guides explain how word histories are worked out, for readers with no background in linguistics. They are best read in order.

1. 1 How etymology works Where the evidence for a word’s history comes from, the ways words change their sound and meaning, and how to tell a real origin from a good story.
2. 2 Sound laws: why sound change is regular Why English has father where Latin has pater: Grimm’s law, Verner’s law, and the discovery that makes historical linguistics a science.
3. 3 How proto-languages are reconstructed How linguists work out words in languages nobody ever wrote down, step by step, and how we know the method works.

Want to see the methods at work? Browse English words A–Z or English words by origin, and see how entries are written.