English

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Etymology

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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 or logic of), from λόγος (lógos, word; explanation).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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etymology (countable and uncountable, plural etymologies)

  1. (uncountable, linguistics) The scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.
  2. (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[1], page 13:
      The etymology of the term Japlish is disputed and contentiously so.
  3. (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[2]:
      Where did this name Harlequin (or Arlechin) come from? Most etymologies for the name give the Hellequin theory.
  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

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  • 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

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Derived terms

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Translations

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

See also

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Similarly named but unrelated fields

References

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