onomastics.
The branch of lexicology devoted to the study of names and naming, especially the origins of names.
Meaning & usage
The branch of lexicology devoted to the study of names and naming, especially the origins of names.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Hellenic *ónomə Ancient Greek ὄνομᾰ (ónomă) Ancient Greek -ᾰ́ζω (-ắzō) Ancient Greek ὀνομάζω (onomázō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Hellenic *-tis Ancient Greek -τῐς (-tĭs) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τος (-tos) ▲ Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Ancient Greek -τῐκός (-tĭkós) Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰστῐκός (onomăstĭkós)bor. English onomastic Old English -as Middle English -es English -s English onomastics First attested in 1936, from the adjective onomastic (“of or belonging to naming”) (1716) with a suffix -s, from French onomastique, from Ancient Greek ὀνομαστικός (onomastikós), from ὀνομαστός (onomastós, “named”), form of ὀνομάζω (onomázō, “I name”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”) (whence English name).
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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.