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Edited by Heidtheba, Carolyn Barratt, Harri, Fragmentshard and 1 other

The origin of the meaning of words (etymology) is a fascinating and rewarding subject. The foregoing sentence has words with Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon or Germanic origins! The purpose of this article is not to make it technical, but something which will at worst tickle your curiosity and at best lead you into further areas of study. If nothing else, your spelling might improve!



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    Buy or gain access to a good etymological dictionary such as the Concise Oxford. It's important that somewhere it's described as etymological otherwise you can end up with a dictionary that merely explains what words mean without reference to their origin.
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    Note down words you are interested in seeking the origin of and look them up when you get the chance..
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    Look up a word which is familiar to you, such as "nostril". It will amuse you no end to discover that it's derived from two words "nose" and "thirl", the first one meaning (of course) "nose" and the second one "hole", thus "nose-hole" (get it?). The dictionary should tell you which language both words come from. The reason "-thirl" became "-tril" is through a process called metathesis (a word of Greek origin and another one to look up!).
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    Look up any other word, for example "anthropology", the study of human societies. "Anthropos" is the Greek word for "man" or "human", and "logos" for "word" or "study". Near that word you'll find others such as "anthropomorphic", "anthropophagy" and, elsewhere in the dictionary, "misanthropic".
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    You now know that there are four other words related to "man" or "human" and now you can link the other parts of the word to that. Thus "anthropophagy" is another word for "cannibalism" and "misanthropic" is hatred or dislike of your fellow man.
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    Keep looking up words! In this way, you'll understand, for example, the difference between "militate" and "mitigate" (often confused and therefore misused) and "uninterested" and "disinterested".
Add your own method


  • Try looking up all sorts of words, from the Anatomical ("wrist, bicep, knee, digit" etc) to the Zany such as slang words (but be aware that some, if they are too new, may not yet have made it into the dictionary).
  • Use the internet.
  • Read! The more you read, the more words you see. When you learn and see these words used, you will recognize other words that look similar or are used similarly. This can be a great starting point for another quick etymology study.


  • This can become obsessional and lead you along all sorts of paths. Before you know where you are, you've spent an hour or more looking up words when you should have been doing other things!
  • The internet contains many false etymologies and origins. An example is CANOE - the Committee to Assign Naval Origins to Everything (not a real committee!) - which gives an entirely spurious explanation as to the origins of "brass monkey weather".

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Categories: English Vocabulary

Recent edits by: Fragmentshard, Harri, Carolyn Barratt



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