MarcusBennevall/EtymologyTaggerDataset huggingface dataset:
stub
From Middle English stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-West Germanic *stubb, from Proto-Germanic *stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr, Faroese stubbi (“stub”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew-; compare steep (“sharp slope”). Doublet of stob.
Sense extended in Middle English to similarly shaped objects. Verb sense “strike one’s toe” is recorded 1848; “extinguish a cigarette” 1927.
honest
From Middle English honest, honeste (“honourable, appropriate, excellent”), from Old French honeste, from Latin honestus, from honor. For the verb, see Latin honestāre (“to clothe or adorn with honour”), and compare French honester. Displaced native Old English sōþfæst (literally “truth-firm”).
honesty
From Middle English honeste (“honour, integrity”), from Old French honesté (compare modern French honnêteté) (honest + -y); the plant, from the visibility of the seeds through the translucent pods. Displaced native Old English sōþfæstnes; and non-native Middle English prodonomee, from Old French prodomie.
edifice
From Middle English edifice, from Old French edifice, a classical borrowing of Latin aedificium (“building”), derived from aedificāre (“to build, establish”) (whence also English edify).
felony
From Middle English felony, felonie, from Old French felonie (“evil, immoral deed”), from felon (“evildoer”). Ultimately of Proto-Germanic origin. More at felon. By surface analysis, felon + -y.
imprisonment
From Anglo-Norman emprisonement, from Old French emprisonnement. See imprison + -ment.
cyclops
Borrowed from Latin cyclōps, from Ancient Greek Κύκλωψ (Kúklōps, “Cyclops ['round eyes']”). The sense for copepods is a semantic loan from translingual Cyclops.
psyche
Learned borrowing from Latin psychē, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”).
Shortened form of psychology, from French psychologie, from Latin psychologia, from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”) and -λογία (-logía, “study of”)
Aeneas
From Latin Aenēās, from Ancient Greek Αἰνείας (Aineías).
pax
From Middle English pax and Latin pax (“peace”). Doublet of peace. See peace. As school slang, originally used at Winchester College, Hampshire, in the United Kingdom.
From Latin Pāx (“Peace”).
media
Learned borrowing from Latin media, the feminine nominative of medius (“middle”, adjective), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). In the sense of a unit of dry measure, via Spanish media. Doublet of medium, medio, and mediate.
Latinate plural of medium, particularly as a clipping of communications media and often reinterpreted as singular or mass noun, from Latin media, neuter plural form of medius (“middle”, adjective), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”).
Borrowed from Latin Mēdia, from Ancient Greek Μηδία (Mēdía), from Μῆδος (Mêdos), from *Mada (vocalization uncertain), the Old Median language self-designator signifying speakers of the Median language. Compare Old Persian 𐎶𐎠𐎭 (Māda). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”) i.e. central kingdom, cognate with Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya).
visceral
From Middle French viscéral (modern French viscéral), or from its etymon Medieval Latin viscerālis (“internal”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Viscerālis is derived from Latin viscera (a plural form of vīscus (“internal organ of the body”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to rotate, turn”)) + -ālis (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).
cognates
* Old French visceral (Middle French viscéral, modern French viscéral)
* Italian viscerale
* Spanish visceral
mojibake
Borrowed from Japanese 文字化け (mojibake), from 文字 (moji, “character”) + 化ける (bakeru, “to transform, take a different form”, generally in a negative way).
claire
Borrowed from French claire, the feminine form of clair (“clear”).
Borrowed from French Claire, also a spelling variant of the English Clare.
Hogmanay
From Scots Hogmanay, probably from Old French aguillanneuf (“last day of the year”).
decimal
Borrowed from Late Latin, Medieval Latin decimalis, from Latin decimus, from decem (“ten”) + adjective suffix -alis.
filial
From Middle English filial, from Latin fīliālis, from filius (“son”) / filia (“daughter”) + -al.
lachrymose
Learned borrowing from Latin lachrymōsus, lacrimōsus, from lachryma, lacrima (“tear”) + -osus (“-ful”), from Old Latin dacrima, from Proto-Indo-European *dakru-, cognate with English tear.
potsherd
From Middle English pot-sherd, pot-schord, pot scherd, pot scarth, from Middle English pot, pote, potte (“a container, pot, vessel; especially an earthenware vessel”) (from late Old English pot, pott (“a pot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a type of vessel”)) + Middle English sherd (“piece of fired clay or broken earthenware; potsherd”) (from Old English sceard (“a shard, sherd”), from Proto-Germanic *skardą (“a nick, notch”)); equivalent to pot + sherd (“shard”).
innkeeper
From Middle English inkeper; equivalent to inn + keeper. Compare Middle English inholder (“innkeeper”).
cognate
Borrowed from Latin cognātus (“related by blood”), from co- + gnātus (“born”). Compare Portuguese cognato and Spanish cognado. Doublet of connate and cognatus.
filter
From Middle English filtre, from Medieval Latin filtrum (compare also Old French feutre (“felt; filter”)), from Frankish *filtir, from Proto-West Germanic *felt. See felt. Doublet of phin.
Borrowed from German Filter.
filtrate
From the substantivation of New Latin filtrātus (“filtered”) past perfect participle of filtrō (“to filter”). Equivalent to filter (the verb) + -ate (noun-forming suffix).
appoggiatura
Borrowed from Italian appoggiatura, derived from appoggiare (“to lean”).
trill
From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.
Probably related to Old English þweran (“to twirl, stir”). Compare twirl, thirl, and Swedish trilla, Norwegian trille, etc.
achromatopsia
From German Achromatopsie, from Ancient Greek ἀχρώματος (akhrṓmatos), from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + χρῶμα (khrôma, “color”), + -opsie. By surface analysis, a- + chromato- + -opsia.
delicious
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *de
Proto-Indo-European *-h₁
Proto-Indo-European *déh₁
Proto-Italic *dē
Latin dē
Latin dē-
Proto-Indo-European *deh₃-der.?
Proto-Italic *lakjō
Latin laciō
Latin dēliciō
Latin dēliciae
Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-der.
Latin -ōsus
Late Latin dēliciōsusbor.
Anglo-Norman deliciousbor.
Middle English delicious
English delicious
From Middle English delicious, from Anglo-Norman delicious, from Old French delicious, delicieux, from Late Latin dēliciōsus (“delicate, delicious”), from dēliciae (“delights”), plural of dēlicia (“pleasure”), from delicere (“to allure, to entice”), from de- (“away”) + laciō (“to lure, deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. Displaced native Old English ārlīċ (“delicious”).
mart
From Middle Dutch mart, markt (“market”) (Modern Dutch markt), from Old Dutch *markat, from Late Latin marcātus, an alternative form of Classical Latin mercātus. See market.
From Latin Mārs. See Mart.
Scottish English, from Middle English, from a Scottish Gaelic root, see mart (“cow prepared for killing”).
quixotic
Derived from Spanish Quixote, the surname of Don Quixote, the title character in the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, + -ic.
roost
From Middle English roste (“chicken's roost; perch”), from Old English hrōst (“wooden framework of a roof; roost”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrōst, from Proto-Germanic *hrōstaz (“wooden framework; grill”); see *raustijan.
Cognate with Dutch roest (“roost”), German Low German Rust (“roost”), German Rost (“grate; gridiron; grill”).
acquisition
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French acquisicion, from Latin acquisītiō, from acquīrō, acquīrere; equivalent to acquire + -ition.
actrice
From French actrice, from Latin actrīx. Doublet of actrix.
vicissitude
From Middle French vicissitude, from Latin vicissitūdō (“change”), from vicissim (“on the other hand, in turn”), from vicis (“change, vicissitude”), whence Spanish vez and French fois (“time (as in "next time"), occurrence”).
dental
Etymology tree
Middle French dentalbor.
Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-
Proto-Indo-European *-ónts
Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts
Proto-Italic *dents
Latin dēns
Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?
Proto-Italic *-ālis
Latin -ālis
Late Latin dentālisbor.
English dental
Borrowed from Middle French dental or Late Latin dentālis, from dēns (“a tooth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).
meteorology
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μετεωρολογία (meteōrología), from μετέωρα (metéōra, “celestial phenomena”), nominalized from the neuter plural of μετέωρος (metéōros, “high in the sky”), + -λογία (-logía, “study of”). By surface analysis, meteor (“atmospheric phenomenon”) + -ology (“study of”). First attested in 1563.
dens
Borrowed from Latin dens (“a tooth”). Doublet of dent and tooth.
nox
From Latin nox (“night; darkness”), by analogy with lux from Latin lūx (“light; daylight, day”). Doublet of night.
From Latin Nox.
numinous
From Latin nūmen (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality). Nūmen is believed to derive either from Latin *nuō (“to nod”) or from Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”) (ultimately from νόος (nóos, “mind; thought; purpose”)).
mesa
First attested 1759, from Spanish mesa (“table”), from Latin mēnsa. Doublet of mensa.
spruce
From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.
off
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep
Proto-Indo-European *-o
Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó
Proto-Germanic *ab
Proto-West Germanic *ab
Old English æf
Old English of
Middle English of
English off
From Middle English of, from Old English of, af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“from, off, back”). Doublet of of.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots aff (“away, off”), Saterland Frisian oawe, ou (“from”), West Frisian ôf (“away, off”), Dutch af (“from, off”), German ab (“from, off”), German Low German, Luxembourgish of (“off”), Yiddish אָפּ (op, “off”), Danish, Icelandic af (“from, off”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk av (“off”), Swedish af, av (“off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.
nomen
From Latin nōmen (“name”), a clipping of nōmen gentīle (“family name”). Doublet of name and noun.
adduction
Borrowed from Latin adductio, adductionis, from adducō (“to bring to oneself”), from ad + ducō (“to lead”). Compare French adduction. Equivalent to adduct + -ion or adduce + -tion. See adduce.
patron
From Middle English patroun, patrone, from Old French patron, from Latin patrōnus, derived from pater (“father”). Doublet of padrone, Patronus, patroon, and pattern.
vase
Borrowed from Middle French vase, from Latin vās. Doublet of vas.
eject
From Middle French éjecter, from Latin ēiectus, perfect passive participle of ēiciō (“to throw out”), or from ēiectō, the frequentative form of the same verb, from ē-, combining form of ex (“out”), + iaciō (“to throw”).
From Latin ēiectum (“(that which is) thrown out”), from ēiciō (“to throw out”) (see Etymology 1). Coined by W. K. Clifford by analogy with subject and object.
adoration
Borrowed from Middle French adoration, from Latin adōrātiō, adōrātiōnem (“worship, adoration”), from adōrō (“beseech; adore, worship”), from ad (“to, towards”) + ōrō (“beg”).
From adore + -ation.
pontificate
From Latin pontificatus, from pontifex (“high priest”), from pons (“bridge”) + facere (“make”).
pontifex
Learned borrowing from Latin pontifex. Doublet of pontiff.
brave
From Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there). Doublet of bravo.
From Middle French braver, from brave.
bravery
Borrowed from Middle French braverie, from braver (“to brave”), or Italian braveria, from bravare (“to brave”). By surface analysis, brave + -ery.
converse
From Old French converser, from Latin conversor (“live, have dealings with”).
From Latin conversus (“turned around”), past participle of converto (“turn about”).
much
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s
Proto-Indo-European *-lósder.
Proto-Germanic *-ilaz
Proto-Germanic *mikilaz
Proto-West Germanic *mikil
Old English miċel
Middle English muchel
Middle English muche
English much
From Middle English muche (“much, great”), apocopated variant of muchel (“much, great”), from Old English myċel, miċel (“big, much”), from Proto-West Germanic *mikil, from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂- (“big, stour, great”). See also mickle, muckle.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots mickle, mukill, mekil, mikil (“big, large, great, much”), Middle Dutch mēkel (“great, many, much”), Middle High German michel ("great, many, much"; > German michel (“great, big, large”)), Norwegian Bokmål mye (“much”), Norwegian Nynorsk mykje (“much”), Swedish mycket (“much”), Danish meget (“much”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils, “great, many”), Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “large, great”), Modern Greek μεγάλος (megálos, “large, great”).
Note that English much is not related to Spanish mucho, and their resemblance in both form and meaning is purely coincidental, as mucho derives from Latin multus and is not related to the Germanic forms. Instead, related to Spanish maño.
Two main origins:
* Borrowed from German Much.
* A variant of Mutch.
roast
From Middle English rosten, a borrowing from Old French rostir (“to roast, to torture with fire”), from Frankish *rōstijan (“to roast, broil”), from Proto-Germanic *raustijaną (“to roast”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrews- (“to crackle; roast”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian rosterje (“to roast”), Dutch roosten, roosteren (“to roast”), German rösten (“to roast”).
Displaced native Middle English breden, bræden (“to roast”), from Old English brǣdan, related to German braten (“to roast, grill”).
The noun is from Middle English roste, from Old French rost, roste, from the verb.
entail
From Middle English entaillen, from Old French entaillier, entailler (“to notch”, literally “to cut in”); from prefix en- + tailler (“to cut”), from Late Latin taliare, from Latin talea. Compare late Latin feudum talliatum (“a fee entailed, i.e., curtailed or limited”).
From Middle English entaille (“carving”), from Old French entaille (“incision”), from the verb entailler. See above.
assuage
From Middle English aswagen, from Old French asuagier (“to appease, to calm”), from Vulgar Latin *assuāviō (“to sweeten, to butter up, to calm”), derived from Latin ad- + suāvis (“sweet”) + -iō.
pelican
From Middle English pellican, pellicane, from Old English pellican (“pelican”), from Latin pelecānus, from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán),
πέλεκυς (pélekus, “hatchet”).
waiting
From Middle English waitinge, waytynge, waitende, weytende, waitand, waytand, equivalent to wait + -ing.
From Middle English waitynge, waytynge, equivalent to wait + -ing.
wait
From Middle English waiten, from Anglo-Norman waiter, waitier (compare French guetter from Old French gaitier, guaitier), from Frankish *wahtwēn (“to watch, guard”), derivative of Frankish *wahtu (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”).
Cognate with Old High German wahtēn (“to watch, guard”), German Low German wachten (“to wait”), Dutch wachten (“to wait, expect”), French guetter (“to watch out for”), Saterland Frisian wachtje (“to wait”), West Frisian wachtsje (“to wait”), North Frisian wachtjen (“to stand, stay put”). More at watch.
In some senses, merged or influenced by Middle English waiten, weiten (“to do good to, lie in wait for, to contrive good or harm on, catch, snare”), from Old Norse veita (“to give help to, assist, grant, cause to happen”), from Proto-Germanic *waitijaną (“to show, guide, advise, direct”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”).
Largely overtook native Middle English biden, from Old English bīdan, source of bide.
fluke
From Old English flōc (“flatfish”), of Germanic origin, related to German flach (“flat”), Old Norse floke (“flatfish”), all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *flakaz.
Mid-16th century in the sense of “anchor blade”. Probably the same word as in etymology 2 above or else a related word for something flat (cf. Proto-Germanic *flakaz). A derivation from Middle Low German vlögel (“wing”), from Proto-Germanic *flugilaz, seems phonetically impossible. If anything, related vlōch, vlucht (“flight”, both also “wing”) or even *vlunke (modern Low German Flunk (“wing, pinion”)) are more plausible candidates. Note that the kind of whale's fin is called Fluke in contemporary German, but this is likely from English.
office
From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)).
The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.
fortis
Learned borrowing from Latin fortis (“strong”). Doublet of fort and forte.
palabra
Borrowed from Spanish palabra (“word”). Doublet of parable and parabola.
kike
Originally used by German-American Jews as a slur for Eastern European Jews immigrating to the United States.
The most dominant theory is from Yiddish קײַקל (kaykl, “circle”). In the early 20th century, non-English-speaking Jews that immigrated to the United States would sign papers with a circle as opposed to a more common X, in order to avoid using a symbol reminiscent of a Christian Cross. If so, a doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cycle, cyclus, and wheel.
Other theories also exist, in particular a contraction from the documented phrase “Ikey-Kikey”, an American-origin reduplication of ikey, which in turn is a British-English pejorative for Jews after the prevalence of the name Isaac.
Alternatively, from Scots keek (“to peek or peep surreptitiously”), used in the New York City clothing industry to refer to the practice of sending spies to work in competing garment factories to copy designs which would then be reproduced and sold at lower cost. Eastern European Jews played a major role in the clothing industry and were perceived to frequently participate in underhanded business tactics. Originally mostly used by older, established German Jews to refer to the Eastern European newcomers, eventually it became generalized to all Jews.
chink
Of uncertain origin, but apparently an extension, with diminutive -k (see more at -ock), of Middle English chine (or, if already suffixed in Middle English, *chinek), from Old English ċine (“a crack, chine, chink”), equivalent to chine + -k.
There are several possible origins of the term:
* From the Chinese courtesy ching-ching, a reduplication of Mandarin 請 /请 (qǐng, “please”). Compare chin-chin, Italian cincin, Portuguese tchim-tchim, tim-tim, Spanish chinchín, French tchin-tchin.
* From the alteration of China.
* From the alteration of Qing (also spelled Ch'ing).
See also Hokkien 親家 /亲家 (chhin-ke, “any relative by marriage (to a Chinese family)”).
gook
First attested in the 1890s, US military slang in reference to Filipinos (in particular, it is defined in an 1893 citation in Slang and Its Analogues as referring to prostitutes who followed army camps; it is defined similarly in a 1914 work). The word was used for Nicaraguans during the US military occupation there in the 1910s, and for Haitians during the US invasion there, when Herbert Seligman noted in 1920 that "The Haitians … are nicknamed 'Gooks'".
Other early uses in the 1920 and 30s still refer to people from the Philippines (a 1921 work refers to the Philippines as "Gook Land"), and the term also resembles goo-goo (“a Filipino person”), for which a variety of etymologies have been proposed; see that entry for more. (A later folk etymology suggests that during the Korean War, North Korean soldiers would shout Korean 美國 (Miguk, “America”) at Americans, who interpreted it as "me gook", as if identifying themselves as "gooks"; this ignores the many earlier examples of the word outside Korea.) Gook was used of Pacific Islanders by World War II, and Koreans and Vietnamese people by the time of the 1950s and 60s US military interventions there, which cemented the shift to meaning "Asian".
adrenal
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd
Proto-Italic *ad
Proto-Italic *ad-
Latin ad-bor.
English ad-
Late Latin rēn
Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?
Proto-Italic *-ālis
Late Latin -ālis
Late Latin rēnālislbor.
English renal
English adrenal
From ad- (“near”) + renal (“pertaining to the kidneys”), from Latin rēn (“kidney”).
adulteration
From Middle French adulteration and its etymon Latin adulterātĭō. By surface analysis, adulterate + -ion.
quicken
From Middle English quikenen (“to become alive again after dying; to raise (someone) from the dead; to regain consciousness or strength; to give vitality, revive; to regain validity; to nourish; to spare (the life of someone or something); to ignite; to illuminate; of events: to happen more quickly; of clouds: to form”) [and other forms], from quiken (“to come to life; to become alive again after dying; to give or regain vitality, revive; of a seed: to germinate, grow; to arouse (anger); to inspire; to reinforce, strengthen; to make (a substance) alchemically active; to nourish, sustain; to sharpen; to ignite; to illuminate; of news: to spread”) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive forms of verbs). Quiken is derived from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, become living; to quicken”), from cwic (“alive, live, living; mentally agile; intelligent, keen”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns). The English word may be analysed as quick (“moving with swiftness; occurring in a short time; (archaic) alive, living; (archaic) pregnant”) + -en (suffix attached to some adjectives forming transitive verbs meaning ‘to make [adjective]’).
Cognates
* Danish kvikne (“to quicken, revive”)
* Icelandic kvikna (“to ignite; to turn on”)
* Swedish kvickna (“to revive”)
From Middle English quiken (“(chiefly in place names) probably the European rowan or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), and possibly also the aspen (Populus tremula), juniper (genus Juniperus, specifically the common juniper (Juniperus communis)), or service tree (Sorbus domestica)”), possibly from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, become living; to quicken”) (see etymology 1).
From Middle English quiken (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms], a variant of quich, quik (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms] (whence modern English quick, quitch (“couch grass, quitchgrass”); the -en element remains unexplained), from Old English cwiċe (“couch grass”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”); see further at etymology 1.
quicksand
From Middle English quyksande, from Old English cwecesand (“quicksand”), equivalent to quick (“living”) + sand. Cognate with Swedish kvicksand (“quicksand”), Icelandic kviksandur, kviksyndi (“quicksand”). More at quick, sand.