Etymology

  • 1etymology — (n.) late 14c., ethimolegia facts of the origin and development of a word, from O.Fr. et(h)imologie (14c., Mod.Fr. étymologie), from L. etymologia, from Gk. etymologia, properly study of the true sense (of a word), from etymon true sense (neuter… …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 2etymology — 1. Etymology is the study of the history and derivation of words, and an etymology is the history of a particular word. Most dictionaries of concise size and larger give detailed accounts of a word s sources, which can be from other English words …

    Modern English usage

  • 3Etymology — Et y*mol o*gy ( j[y^]), n.; pl. {Etymologies} ( j[i^]z). [L.etymologia, Gr. etymologi a; e tymon etymon + lo gos discourse, description: cf. F. [ e]tymologie. See {Etymon}, and { logy}.] 1. That branch of philological science which treats of the… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 4etymology — index origination Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 5etymology — [n] word history derivation, development, etymon, origin, phrase history, phrase origin, root, source; concept 275 …

    New thesaurus

  • 6etymology — ► NOUN (pl. etymologies) ▪ an account of the origins and the developments in meaning of a word. DERIVATIVES etymological adjective etymologically adverb etymologist noun. ORIGIN Greek etumologia, from etumos true …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7etymology — [et΄ə mäl′əjē] n. pl. etymologies [ME & OFr ethimologie < L etymologia < Gr: see ETYMON & LOGY] 1. the origin and development of a word, affix, phrase, etc.; the tracing of a word or other form back as far as possible in its own language… …

    English World dictionary

  • 8Etymology — Etymologies redirects here. For the encyclopedia, see Etymologiae. For the Elvish dictionary, see The Etymologies (Tolkien). Not to be confused with Entomology or Etiology. For help writing an etymology on Wikipedia, see Template:Etymology …

    Wikipedia

  • 9etymology — n. 1) to ascertain, determine, trace an etymology 2) folk etymology (the professor explained the origin of a word by folk etymology) * * * determine trace an etymology to ascertain folk etymology (the professor explained the origin of a word by… …

    Combinatory dictionary

  • 10etymology — etymological /et euh meuh loj i keuhl/, etymologic, adj. etymologically, adv. etymologist, n. /et euh mol euh jee/, n., pl. etymologies. 1. the derivation of a word. 2. an account of the history of a particular word or element of a word. 3. t …

    Universalium