etymology

noun et·y·mol·o·gy \ˌe-tə-ˈmä-lə-jē\

: an explanation of where a word came from : the history of a word

: the study of word histories

plural et·y·mol·o·gies

Full Definition of ETYMOLOGY

: the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language

: a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies

— et·y·mo·log·i·cal \-mə-ˈlä-ji-kəl\ adjective

— et·y·mo·log·i·cal·ly \-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

See etymology defined for English-language learners

See etymology defined for kids

Examples of ETYMOLOGY

Visible just beneath the entries are tantalizing glimpses of the lexicographer's craft: scouring periodicals for fresh coinages, poring over competing dictionaries in search of elusive etymologies and hounding writers and scholars in the service of … “ear candy” or plain old “duh.” —Margalit Fox, New York Times Book Review, 18 June 1995
Professionals have always tried to seal the borders of their trade and to snipe at any outsider with a pretense to amateur enthusiasm (although amateurs who truly love their subject, as the etymology of their status proclaims, often acquire far more expertise than the average time-clock-punching breadwinner). —Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, February 1991
True etymology, if there is such a thing, seeks to displace our attention back in time, to roots, whereas the “popular” variety tries to update words, to familiarize them where the so-called science estranges them. —Walter Redfern, Puns, 1984
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Origin of ETYMOLOGY

Middle English ethimologie, from Anglo-French, from Latin etymologia, from Greek, from etymon + -logia -logy

First Known Use: 14th century

Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

ablaut, allusion, anacoluthon, diacritic, gerund, idiom, infinitive, metaphor, semiotics, simile

Rhymes with ETYMOLOGY

cosmetology, genealogy, martyrology, phraseology, radiology

ETYMOLOGY Defined for Kids

etymology

noun et·y·mol·o·gy \ˌe-tə-ˈmä-lə-jē\

plural et·y·mol·o·gies

Definition of ETYMOLOGY for Kids

: the history of a word shown by tracing it or its parts back to the earliest known forms and meanings both in its own language and any other language from which it may have been taken