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etymology.

The scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.

9 characters5 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌɛtɪˈmɒləd͡ʒi/Received-Pronunciation/ˌɛtɪˈmɔləd͡ʒɪj/British, Southern, Standard/ˌɛtəˈmɒləd͡ʒi/Canada[ˌɛɾəˈmɒləd͡ʒi]Canada
  1. The scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.

    uncountable
  2. The entire catalogue of meanings that a word, morpheme, or sign has carried throughout its history.

    countable
    Although written the same, the words lead (the metal) and lead (the verb) have totally different etymologies.
  3. An account of the origin and historical development of a word as presented in a dictionary or the like.

    countable
  4. The direct origin of a name, as in who someone was named after.

    countable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *set-? Ancient Greek ἐτεός (eteós)der.? Ancient Greek ἔτυμος (étumos) Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *lóǵos Proto-Hellenic *lógos Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos) Ancient Greek -λογος (-logos) Ancient Greek ἐτῠμόλογος (etŭmólogos) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ἐτῠμολογῐ́ᾱ (etŭmologĭ́ā)bor. Latin etymologiader. Old French ethimologiebor. Middle English ethymologie English etymology 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”). By surface analysis, etymo- + -logy.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.