Noun
etymology (countable and uncountable, plural etymologies)
- (uncountable, linguistics) The scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.
- (countable) The entire catalogue of meanings that a word, morpheme, or sign has carried throughout its history.
Although written the same, the words lead (the metal) and lead (the verb) have totally different etymologies.
2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 13:The etymology of the term Japlish is disputed and contentiously so.
- (countable) An account of the origin and historical development of a word as presented in a dictionary or the like.
- Synonym: derivation
2023 July 2, Talia Felix, “Homing in on Harlequin”, in Online Etymology Dictionary:Where did this name Harlequin (or Arlechin) come from? Most etymologies for the name give the Hellequin theory.
- (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.
Translations
study of the historical development of languages, particularly of individual words
- Afrikaans: etimologie (af)
- Albanian: etimologji (sq) f
- Arabic: تَأْثِيل m (taʔṯīl), عِلْم تَأْثِيل m (ʕilm taʔṯīl)
- Aragonese: etimolochía f
- Armenian: ստուգաբանություն (hy) (stugabanutʻyun)
- 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 (bn) (śobdototto)
- Breton: etimologiezh f
- Bulgarian: етимоло́гия (bg) f (etimológija)
- Burmese: ဗျုပ္ပတ် (my) (byuppat)
- Carpathian Rusyn: етимоло́ґия f (etymológyja)
- Catalan: etimologia (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 語源學／语源学 (jyu5 jyun4 hok6)
- Mandarin: 語源學／语源学 (zh) (yǔyuánxué), 詞源學／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) (niruktaṁ)
- Maltese: etimoloġija (mt) f
- Marathi: व्युत्पत्तीशास्त्र n (vyutpattīśāstra)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: үгийн гаралзүй (ügiin garalzüj), этимологи (etimologi)
- Mongolian: ᠦᠭᠡ ᠵᠢᠨ
ᠭᠠᠷᠤᠯ
ᠵᠦᠢ (üge-ǰin ɣarul ǰüi), ᠡᠲ᠋ᠢᠮᠣᠯᠣᠭᠢ (etimologi)
- Navajo: bizhiʼígíí
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: etymologi (no) m
- Nynorsk: etymologi m
- Occitan: etimologia (oc) f
- Pashto: اشتقاق پوهنه f (ešteqãqpohǝ́na), فقه اللغت f (fiqolluǧát), ګړيستنه f (gǝṛyastǝ́na)
- Persian:
- Iranian Persian: ریشِهشِناسی (fa) (riše-šenâsi), واژِهپَژوهی (vâže-pažuhi), عِلْمِ اِشْتِقاق (elm-e ešteğâğ), اِتیمولوژی (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: етимоло̀гија f
- Roman: etimològija (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), решашиносӣ (rešašinosi)
- 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)
- Urdu: اِشْتِقاقِیات f pl (iśtiqāqiyāt), صَرْف m (sarf)
- Uyghur: ئېتمولوگىيە (ëtmologiye), ئېتىمولوگىيە (ëtimologiye)
- 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
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account of the origin and historical development of a word
- Arabic: إِشْتِقَاق m (ʔištiqāq), تَأْثِيل m (taʔṯīl)
- Armenian: ստուգաբանություն (hy) (stugabanutʻyun)
- Belarusian: этымало́гія f (etymalóhija), этымалёгія f (etymaljóhija) (Taraškievica)
- Breton: etimologiezh f
- Bulgarian: етимоло́гия (bg) f (etimológija)
- Burmese: ဗျုပ္ပတ် (my) (byuppat)
- Carpathian Rusyn: етимоло́ґия f (etymológyja)
- Catalan: etimologia (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 詞源／词源 (zh) (cíyuán), 語源／语源 (zh) (yǔyuán), 字源 (zh) (zìyuán), 詞根／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 (de) 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
- Maori: mātai kupu
- Marathi: व्युत्पत्ती f (vyutpattī)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: үгийн гарал (ügiin garal)
- Mongolian: ᠦᠭᠡ ᠵᠢᠨ
ᠭᠠᠷᠤᠯ (üge-ǰin ɣarul)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: etymologi (no) m
- Nynorsk: etymologi m
- Occitan: etimologia (oc) f
- Old English: namena ordfruma m
- Pashto: اشتقاق (ps) m (ešteqãq)
- Persian:
- Iranian Persian: ریشِهشِناسی (fa) (riše-šenâsi), واژِهپَژوهی (vâže-pažuhi), عِلْمِ اِشْتِقاق (elm-e ešteğâğ), اِتیمولوژی (fa) (etimoloži), اِشْتِقاق (fa) (ešteğâğ)
- 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: етимоло̀гија f
- Roman: etimològija (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), решашиносӣ (rešašinosi)
- 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)
- Urdu: اِشْتِقاق (ur) m (iśtiqāq)
- Uyghur: ئېتىمولوگىيە (ëtimologiye)
- Venetan: etimoƚoxìa (vec) f
- Vietnamese: từ nguyên (vi) (詞源)
- Welsh: tarddiad (cy) m
- Wolof: gongikubaat (wo)
- Yoruba: orírun-ọ̀rọ̀
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Translations to be checked
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.
