etymology

For etymology on Wiktionary, see Wiktionary:Etymology.

English

Etymology

From Middle English ethymologie, from Old French ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Ancient Greek ἐτυμολογία (etumología), from ἔτυμον (étumon, “true sense”) and -λογία (-logía, “study of”), from λόγος (lógos, “word; explanation”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĕt'ĭ-mŏlʹə-jē; IPA^(key): /ˌɛt.ɪˈmɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/
• (General American) enPR: ĕt'ə-mŏlʹə-jē; IPA^(key): /ˌɛt.əˈmɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: e‧ty‧mo‧lo‧gy
• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

etymology (plural etymologies)

1. (uncountable, linguistics) The study of the historical development of languages, particularly as manifested in individual words.
2. (countable) The origin and historical development of a word; the derivation.
   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[1], page 13:

     The etymology of the term Japlish is disputed and contentiously so.

   Although written the same, the words lead (the metal) and lead (the verb) have totally different etymologies.

3. (countable) An account of the origin and historical development of a word as presented in a dictionary or the like.
4. (countable) The direct origin of a name, as in who someone was named after.
   • 1996, The Rock:

     I'm sure you know the etymology of your name, Goodspeed.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with entomology (“the study of insects”) or etiology (“the study of causes or origins”).
• Not to be confused with the origin of the object or person the word refers to.

Hyponyms

• onomastics

 

Derived terms

• etymological
• folk etymology
• global etymology
• popular etymology
• pseudoetymology
• surface etymology

 

Related terms

• etymologist
• etymologize
• etymon

 

Translations

study of the historical development of languages, particularly of individual words

• Albanian: etimologji (sq) f
• Arabic: تَأْثِيل‎ m (taʔṯīl)
• Aragonese: etimolochía f
• Armenian: ստուգաբանություն (hy) (stugabanutʿyun)
• Aromanian: etimulughii (roa-rup) f
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܵܛܘܿܡܘܿܠܘܿܓ݂ܝܼܵܐ‎ f (āṭomoloḡīyā), ܡܲܒܗܘܼܬ ܡܸܠܹ̈ܐ‎ f (mabhut millē)
• Asturian: etimoloxía (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: etimologiya (az)
• Basque: etimologia
• Belarusian: этымало́гія f (etymalóhija), этымалёгія f (etymaljóhija) (taraškievica)
• Bengali: শব্দতত্ত্ব (śobdotottvo)
• Breton: etimologiezh f
• Bulgarian: етимоло́гия (bg) f (etimológija)
• Burmese: ဗျုပ္ပတ် (my) (byuppat)
• Catalan: etimologia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 語源學／语源学 (jyu⁵ jyun⁴ hok⁶)

  Mandarin: 語源學／语源学 (zh) (yǔyuánxué),词源学 (zh) (cíyuánxué)

• Corsican: etimulugia (co) f
• Czech: etymologie (cs) f
• Danish: etymologi (da) c
• Dutch: etymologie (nl) f, woordherkomst (nl) f
• Esperanto: etimologio
• Estonian: etümoloogia (et)
• Faroese: orðaupprunafrøði f
• Finnish: etymologia (fi)
• French: étymologie (fr) f
• Galician: etimoloxía (gl) f
• Georgian: ეტიმოლოგია (ka) (eṭimologia)
• German: Etymologie (de) f
• Greek: ετυμολογία (el) f (etymología)

  Ancient: ἐτυμολογία f (etumología)

• Hebrew: אֵטִימוֹלוֹגְיָה‎ (he) f (etimológya)
• Hindi: व्युत्पत्ति f (vyutpatti), व्युत्पत्तिशास्त्र m (vyutpattiśāstra)
• Hungarian: etimológia (hu), szófejtés (hu), szótörténet (hu)
• Icelandic: orðsifjafræði (is) f
• Ido: etimologio (io)
• Indonesian: etimologi (id)
• Interlingua: etymologia (ia)
• Irish: sanasaíocht f
• Italian: etimologia (it) f
• Japanese: 語源学 (ja) (ごげんがく, gogengaku)
• Kannada: ಪದದ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ (kn) (padada hinnele)
• Kazakh: этимология (étimologiä)
• Khmer: និរុត្តិសាស្ត្រ (niruttesaah)
• Korean: 어원학(語源學) (ko) (eowonhak), 어원(語源) (ko) (eowon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bêjenasî (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: этимология (ky) (etimologiya)
• Latin: etymologia f
• Latvian: etimoloģija (lv) f
• Lithuanian: etimologija (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Etymologie pl
• Macedonian: етимоло́гија f (etimológija)
• Malay: etimologi (ms)
• Malayalam: നിരുക്തം (ml) (niruktaṃ)
• Maltese: etimoloġija (mt) f
• Marathi: व्युत्पत्तीशास्त्र n (vyutpattīśāstra)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: этимологи (etimologi)

• Navajo: bizhiʼígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: etymologi (no) m

  Nynorsk: etymologi m

• Occitan: etimologia (oc) f
• Pashto: اشتقاق پوهنه‎ f (ešteqãqрohǝ́na), فقه اللغت‎ f (fiqolluǧát), ګړيستنه‎ f (gǝṛyastǝ́na)
• Persian: ریشه‌شناسی‎ (fa) (riše-šenâsi), واژه‌پژوهی‎ (vâže-pažuhi), علم اشتقاق‎ ('elm-e ešteqâq), اتیمولوژی‎ (fa) (etimoloži)
• Polish: etymologia (pl) f, źródłosłów (pl)
• Portuguese: etimologia (pt) f
• Romanian: etimologie (ro) f
• Russian: этимоло́гия (ru) f (etimológija)
• Sanskrit: व्युत्पत्ति (sa) f (vyutpatti)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: етимологија f

  Roman: etimologija (sh) f

• Sicilian: etimoluggìa (scn) f
• Sinhalese: නිරුක්ති විද්‍යාව (nirukti widyāwa)
• Slovak: etymológia (sk) f
• Slovene: etimologija (sl) f
• Spanish: etimología (es) f
• Swahili: etimolojia
• Swedish: etymologi (sv) c
• Tagalog: palamuhatan, panuysuyan, etimolohiya (tl)
• Tajik: этимология (tg) (etimologiya)
• Tamil: சொற்பிறப்பியல் (ta) (coṟpiṟappiyal)
• Telugu: వ్యుత్పత్తి (te) (vyutpatti)
• Thai: ศัพทมูลวิทยา (sàp-tá-muun-wít-tá-yaa)
• Tigrinya: ፍልቀተ-ቃል (fəlḳätä-ḳal)
• Turkish: köken bilimi (tr), etimoloji (tr)
• Turkmen: etimologiýa
• Ukrainian: етимоло́гія (uk) f (etymolóhija)
• Uyghur: ئېتمولوگىيە‎ (ëtmologiye)
• Uzbek: etimologiya (uz)
• Vietnamese: từ nguyên học (vi) (詞源學), từ nguyên (vi) (詞源)
• Volapük: tümolog (vo)
• Welsh: geirdarddiad (cy) m, geirdarddeg f
• Yiddish: עטימאָלאָגיע‎ (yi) f (etimologye)
• Yoruba: ìmọ̀ orírun-ọ̀rọ̀, ẹ̀kọ́ orírun-ọ̀rọ̀

account of the origin and historical development of a word

• Arabic: إِشْتِقَاق‎ m (ʔištiqāq), تَأْثِيل‎ m (taʔṯīl)
• Armenian: ստուգաբանություն (hy) (stugabanutʿyun)
• Breton: etimologiezh f
• Bulgarian: етимоло́гия (bg) f (etimológija)
• Burmese: ဗျုပ္ပတ် (my) (byuppat)
• Catalan: etimologia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詞源／词源 (zh) (cíyuán), 語源／语源 (zh) (yǔyuán), 字源 (zh) (zìyuán),词根 (zh) (cígēn)

• Corsican: etimulugia (co) f
• Czech: etymologie (cs) f
• Danish: etymologi (da) c
• Dutch: etymologie (nl) f
• Esperanto: etimo, vortodeveno
• Estonian: etümoloogia (et)
• Finnish: etymologia (fi)
• French: étymologie (fr) f
• Galician: etimoloxía (gl) f
• Georgian: ეტიმოლოგია (ka) (eṭimologia)
• German: Etymologie (de) f, Herkunft (de) f, Wortherkunft f
• Greek: ετυμολογία (el) f (etymología)

  Ancient: ἐτυμολογία f (etumología)

• Hebrew: גיזרון \ גִּזָּרוֹן‎ (he) m (gizarón)
• Hungarian: etimológia (hu), szófejtés (hu), származás (hu), eredet (hu), szóeredet, eredeztetés
• Icelandic: orðsifjar f pl
• Irish: sanasaíocht f
• Italian: etimologia (it) f
• Japanese: 語源 (ja) (ごげん, gogen)
• Khmer: មូលសព្ទ (muullaʼsap), ដើមកំណើតពាក្យ (daəm kɑmnaət piək)
• Korean: 어원(語源) (ko) (eowon)
• Latin: etymologia f
• Latvian: etimoloģija (lv) f
• Luxembourgish: Etymologie n
• Macedonian: етимологија f (etimologija)
• Malayalam: പദോൽപ്പത്തി (ml) (padōlppatti)
• Manx: bun-ocklaght f
• Marathi: व्युत्पत्ती f (vyutpattī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: etymologi (no) m

  Nynorsk: etymologi m

• Occitan: etimologia (oc) f
• Pashto: اشتقاق‎ (ps) m (ešteqãq)
• Persian: ریشه‌شناسی‎ (fa) (riše-šenâsi), واژه‌پژوهی‎ (vâže-pažuhi), علم اشتقاق‎ ('elm-e ešteqâq), اتیمولوژی‎ (fa) (etimoloži), اشتقاق‎ (fa) (ešteqâq)
• Polish: etymologia (pl) f, źródłosłów (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: etimologia (pt) f
• Romanian: etimologie (ro) f
• Russian: этимоло́гия (ru) f (etimológija)
• Sanskrit: व्युत्तपत्ति f (vyuttapatti)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: етимологија f

  Roman: etimologija (sh) f

• Slovak: etymológia (sk) f
• Slovene: etimologija (sl) f
• Spanish: etimología (es) f
• Swedish: etymologi (sv) c
• Tagalog: etimolohiya (tl)
• Tajik: иштиқоқ (ištiqoq), этимология (tg) (etimologiya)
• Tamil: சொற்பிறப்பியல் (ta) (coṟpiṟappiyal)
• Thai: ศัพทมูล (sàp-tá-muun), รากศัพท์ (th) (râak-sàp)
• Turkish: köken bilimi (tr), etimoloji (tr), köken bilgisi
• Ukrainian: етимоло́гія (uk) f (etymolóhija)
• Venetian: etimoƚoxìa (vec) f
• Vietnamese: từ nguyên (vi) (詞源)
• Welsh: tarddiad (cy) m
• Wolof: gongikubaat (wo)
• Yoruba: orírun-ọ̀rọ̀

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} etimologie (af)
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} etümoloogia (et)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} etimologi (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} etymologia (ia)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} etymologia f
• Sindhi: ^{(please verify)} بُڻڀياسُ‎ m (buṇ bhiyāsu)

See also

Similarly named but unrelated fields

• entomology
• ethnology
• ethology
• etiology / aetiology

 

References

• “etymology”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “etymology”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "etymology" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.