Questions tagged [etymology]
Questions about tracing out and describing the elements of an individual word, as well as the historical changes in form and sense which that word has experienced over its history. Please use the 'phrase-origin' tag for phrase/expression origins.
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Etymology of “snooty"
I have not found a satisfactory origin for the word snooty (proud, disdainful of others) in Modern English. I wonder if there is any evidence that could be considered for an origin in the Old English ...
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When did peeople start referring to identity groups as “the _____ community”? [closed]
I have noticed that when referring to identity groups, people often use the construction “the xyz community” instead of “xyz people”. For example, instead of saying “Gay people predominantly believe ...
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What's behind the mispronunciation of "overarching"?
Listening to Inside Politics Sunday today (10/19/25), I heard a journalist, Astead Herndon, mispronounce overarching with a /k/ instead of a /ch/.
I think there is a recognition that the gerontocracy ...
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Use of "man/woman <profession>" Vs "male/female <profession>"
TL;Dr: why "woman scientist" but "male teacher"?
I notice a trend of using "woman" as an adjective in favour of "female" when describing professions: woman ...
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Is "shelve" the only verb formed as a back-formation from the plural of its noun form? (shelf -> shelves -> shelve)
When I checked the etymology of the verb shelve, I was surprised to learn that it is a back formation from shelves, plural of shelf. Etymonline adds "probably", though:
1590s, "to ...
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Why does the adjective "malleable" seem not to have a verb root (like "malle" or "malleate")?
Or rather, it does seem to have a verb form in its Latin origin, but is never used in English. From etymonline:
late 14c., "capable of being shaped or extended by hammering or rolling," ...
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Origin of Australian slang exclamation "struth" meaning greatly surprised
What is the origin of the Australian slang exclamation "struth" meaning greatly surprised?
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What is the derivation of 'fly' as used in the term 'fly plaid'?
The 'fly', generally, in relation to clothing, designates the flap of cloth which covers the zip or buttons at the front of trousers.
But the word is also used to designate the 'fly plaid' a piece of ...
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How did "nothing" come to be slang for female genitalia in Elizabethan English?
I am reading Hamlet for school right now and recently started looking at Act 3 Scene 2. As I was working on my annotations I looked for some of those "translations" you can find online to ...
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Why do “inconsolable” and “uncomfortable” have such different meanings?
The words comfort and console can in some circumstances be used synonymously:
She comforted him after the loss of his job.
She consoled him after the loss of his job.
However, while the words ...
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Is banging French? [closed]
Following up on a previous question, Origin, history and precise meaning of "banger" in the US music industry and FF's answer concerning banging "excellent, good" with citation in ...
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Zenith: is the ‘m → ni’ misreading of Arabic "samt" a credible etymology?
From etymonline.com:
French cenith (Anglo-French zenith, Modern French zénith) and directly from Medieval Latin zyneth, zymeth, cenit, senit, bungled scribal transliterations of Arabic samt "...
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What is the etymology of the word 'belt' in the sense 'to move very fast'?
Wiktionary has the sense involved (bolded below) as a polyseme of what is/are almost certainly the original sense/s ([1] and [2]; sense [6] included as it may be relevant:
...
belt (verb)
[1] (...
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What is the origin of "on a (more) serious note"?
The expressions on a serious note and on a more serious note are used to indicate a change from a lighthearted register to a more serious one. A Google search gives many definitions equivalent to this,...
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Origin of "doomscrolling"
When and where did this extraordinarily evocative word doomscrolling evolve? It seems to mean "The compulsive act of scrolling through endless streams of bad news, often late at night, knowing ...
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Has “drop” recently acquired the meaning of "releasing digital content beyond music"?
The verb “drop” has undergone semantic expansion. Once confined to music industry slang—often associated with hip-hop or radio rollouts—it now functions as a generalized announcement verb for the ...
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Why is muscle cramp called a “charley horse”?
In a short YouTube video, what seems to be lifeless duck in a public pond, is prodded gently by its two duck-friends. The duck remains unresponsive, its head flopped to one side until unexpectedly it ...
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Is "-ledge" a suffix in the word knowledge?
I've been wondering whether the "-ledge" part in "knowledge" can be considered a suffix, or if it has a different function. I understand that "knowledge" comes from Old ...
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Why do we say "take the bait" and not "bite the bait?"
It is not an obvious question; In a fishing context, "bite the bait" is as accurate and clear as "take the bait," yet "take the bait" is a far more common construction.
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Are the words "rowdy" and "row" (i.e. quarrel, primarily UK) etymologically related, or is it just a coincidence? [closed]
A question about etymology of a specific word—hope this is appropriate for this site.
Basically what the title says. Is "rowdy" derived from "row" (rhymes with "cow", ...
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Masculinisation and femini…, what?
Masculinisation refers to (among other things) to applying stereotypical masculine traits to something. The word stem is masculine and then you add isation. I think that is a pretty common ...
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What is the reason for the different spelling of the endings of *eager* and *meagre* in English (Commonwealth)?
Both words were borrowed at 14c. and their etymology looks absolutely similar:
acer (L.) -> egre (Old Fr.) -> egre (ME) -> eagER
macer (L.) -> megre (Old Fr.) -> megre (ME) -> meagRE
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What is the origin of using ‘kind of’ to mean (the adverb) ‘somewhat’?
Just thinking about it, the phrase makes little sense to me (not a native speaker; could be why).
I kinda (kind of) want to do this.
It seems to have no relation to the phrase's actual meaning (as ...
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what's the origin of the phrase "little help"?
When a ball gets kicked or hit far from the players, it's common to shout "Little help", (or possibly "Li'l Help") to anyone passing by who might be able to return it.
I've only ...
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Why are police personnel of all ranks called officers?
Policemen and women are called police officers regardless of their rank. In other ranked systems, like the military or firefighting a military officer or a fire officer would be an individual who has ...
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Etymology of the word skulduggery?
I tried searching both on Google and etymonline.com but both said from Scottish but ultimately of unknown origin.
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Postpone and Prepone [duplicate]
In a language forum, we are debating the word “prepone”, a word popular in India meaning advance.
My position:
Pone is not a word to add a prefix or suffix to it. The word is postpone. Pre-...
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'Triune' (etymology): tri- + Latin -une (< ūnus)
According to the OED, the etymology is:
-Triune: (17th C.) tri- + Latin -une (< ūnus)
Compare:
-Trinity: (13th C., via French) Latin trīnitās (< Latin trīnus)
-Trine: (14th C., via French) &...
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Why does positive mean descriptive
I'm learning economics for the first time and they use the terms positive and normative economics to mean, respectively, the description of facts and the policy suggestions. This is the first time I'...
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If the English word "tear" (of the eye) is cognate to Latin "lacrima" and Greek "δᾰ́κρῠ", why is there no trace of 'k'? Why is it not spelt *teighr?
I know that Latin 'c' and Greek 'k' in the middle of a word correspond to English 'gh'. For instance, in the number "eight" (compare Latin "octo" and Greek "ὀκτώ"). ...
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Etymology of canalisation in biology?
There was this guy, C. H. Waddington who coined a number of terms in biology that are pretty obscure/uncommon. He coined creode, which is:
the developmental pathway followed by a cell as it grows to ...
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Why do we say "data member" and "member function" (instead of "data member" and "function member") in programming?
In programming, a class (a user-defined type) can have members of two kinds: data and functions.
The members that are data are called "data members", while the members that are functions are ...
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Was "pest ban" coined by Edgar Poe, or has it seen a broader use?
In "The Masque of the Red Death" we read:
The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the ...
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Why do grapes and plums specifically have words for their dried counterparts?
I've been going down a rabbit hole recently about how and where raisins and prunes got their names. I understand the etymology of the two (coming from French, probably from goods that had to be dried ...
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What’s the difference between “pedantic,” “didactic,” and “semantic” when describing overly detailed speech?
In conversations and writing, I often come across the words pedantic, didactic, and semantic used to criticize someone’s overly precise or nitpicky way of explaining something.
But I’m not entirely ...
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Why aren't "morn" and "eve" as popular as "morning" and "evening"?
It seems that in the past "morning" and "evening" were referred as morn and eve. I wonder why the change happened? And why didn't it happen to "noon" and "night"...
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Why did English borrow the French word "rendezvous" with its original spelling and silent letters, while many French loanwords are anglicized?
English has borrowed extensively from French, often adapting spelling and pronunciation to fit English norms. For example:
beauté → beauty
envoyé → envoy
(well, there is also the word envoi from ...
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The earliest instance is 1914 “Are you kidding me?”
According to Etymonline
kid (v.)
"tease playfully," 1839, earlier, in thieves' cant, "to coax, wheedle, hoax" (1811), probably from kid (n.), via notion of "treat as a child, ...
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Where did the usage of "cast" as in "to cast a flag [on a post]" come from?
The usage of "cast" as in "casting a flag [on a post, to be reviewed by moderation]" seems much less common than "to flag [a post, etc.]", but it is used extensively on ...
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What is the origin of the phrase "useful idiot" in a political context?
I am looking for the origin of the phrase useful idiot in a political context, where a person in a position of power is manipulated as a puppet who is able to set in motion changes desired by the ...
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'(Just) as well' (adjective): meaning and etymology [closed]
WELL (adjective) proper or appropriate
It is as well that you apologized.
It’s (just) as well (that) he can’t come.
It'd be (just) as well to phone first.
What does as mean in this idiom? (and what ...
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Chthonic - can I use it to refer to fantasy adventures held underground?
I'm looking for a suitable word to use to refer to fantasy adventures underground. For instance, a group of adventurers delve into an underground cave system to find a lost treasure, discovering ...
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Clarification of the verb 'do' and 'perform'
Why is "do" considered grammatically incorrect in the context below? What is the meaning of "do" and "perform" in this context? One thing that also confuses me is that if ...
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Why do so many 3-letter verbs that go consonant-vowel-T conjugate the same in both past tenses as present tense?
Following the pattern of live / lived / I had lived, we have:
Base (infinitive)
Simple Past
Past Perfect
put
put
I had put
set
set
I had set
let
let
I had let
cut
cut
I had cut
hit
hit
I had hit
bet
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'The chief enemy of creativity is "good" sense.' In what sense? Where was it said? [closed]
Recently I stumbled into this idiom commonly attributed to Picasso:
The chief enemy of creativity is "good" sense.
In reasoning about it, I thought of two possible meanings for this phrase:...
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Etymological Similarities Between the Words "drive" and "derive"
I'm an engineer guy. When I think about stimulus changes that start any process or energy conversion, I know the "derivative" lies in its mathematical background. When I did research on the ...
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'Way too + much' vs 'way + too much'
What is its etymology?
way too + much
way + too much
Both as adverbs and determiners.
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Origin of the proverb "There is a lid for every pot"
There is a lid for every pot is a saying that essentially means "There is someone for everyone", most commonly used in the context of romantic relationships. Variations include "Every ...
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Why do we add -ski to people's names and where does it come from?
Why do we add the suffix -ski to people's names, and where does it come from?
Examples: Kate → Kateski, John → Johnski.
Does it work with all names?
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Is "opaquescent" a valid alternative to "opacifying" for describing a gradual transition toward opacity?
I'm looking for a term that emphasises a gradual, possibly inherent transition from transparency to opacity.
I know the verb "opacify" (and its forms like "opacifying") already ...
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