Online Etymology Dictionary

cicatrix (n.): 1640s, from Latin cicatrix (accusative cicatricem ) "a scar," which is of unknown origin. Earlier in English as cicatrice (mid-15c.). Related: cicatrical.
Cicely: fem. proper name, an alteration or nativization of Cecilia. The plant (late 16c.) is Latin seselis, from Greek seselis.
cicerone (n.): "a local guide in Italy," 1726, from Italian cicerone, from Latin Ciceronem, from the name of the great Roman orator (see Ciceronian). Perhaps in reference to the loquacity of the guides.
Ciceronian (adj.): "eloquent," a reference to Roman statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.E.); also often known as Tully in early Modern English writers; Cicero being a cognomen of the genus Tullia.
cicisbeo (n.): 1718, from Italian cicisbeo "the recognized gallant of a married woman." Perhaps from older French chiche beau "little man," or from Venetian dialect cici "the chattering of women" (imitative, attested in 18c.).
Cid: 1680s, from Spanish cid "chief, commander," from Arabic sayyid "lord." A title given in Spanish literature to Castilian nobleman and warlord Ruy Diaz, Count of Bivar (c.1040-1099).
cider (n.): late 13c., from Old French cidre, cire "pear or apple cider" (12c., Modern French cidre), variant of cisdre, from Late Latin sicera, Vulgate rendition of Hebrew shekhar, a word used for any strong drink (translated in Old English as beor, taken untranslated in Septuagint Greek as sikera), related to Arabic sakar "strong drink," sakira "was drunk." Meaning gradually narrowed in English to mean exclusively "fermented drink made from apples," though this sense also was in Old French.
cif: also c.i.f., abbreviation of cost, insurance, freight, a trade term.
cig (n.): slang abbreviation of cigarette or cigar, attested from 1889. Elaborated form ciggy attested from 1962.
cigar (n.): 1730, from Spanish cigarro (source also of French cigare), probably from Maya sicar "to smoke rolled tobacco leaves," from si'c "tobacco;" or from or influenced by Spanish cigarra "grasshopper, cicada" (on resemblance of shape), from Vulgar Latin *cicala (source also of French cigale, Italian cigala). Cigar-box is from 1819; cigar-store from 1839; the wooden cigar-store Indian is from 1879, American English, but wooden images of feathered Indians or Negroes are mentioned outside tobacconists' shops in England by 1852, and are said to have been in earlier use on the Continent.
Blackamoors and other dark-skinned foreigners have always possessed considerable attractions as signs for tobacconists, and sometimes also for public-houses. Negroes, with feathered headdresses and kilts, smoking pipes, are to be seen outside tobacco shops on the Continent, as well as in England. [Jacob Larwood and John Camden Hotten, "The History of Signboards From the Earliest Times to the Present Day," London, 1867]
cigarette (n.): 1835, American English, from French cigarette (by 1824), diminutive of cigare "cigar" (18c.), from Spanish cigarro (see cigar). Spanish form cigarito, cigarita also was popular in English mid-19c. Cigarette heart "heart disease caused by smoking" is attested from 1884. Cigarette lighter attested from 1884.
cigarillo (n.): 1829, from Spanish cigarillo, diminutive of cigarro (see cigar).
cilantro (n.): by 1907, from Spanish cilantro, variant of culantro, from Latin coriandrum "coriander" (see coriander).
cilia (n.): 1715, from Latin cilia, plural of cilium "eyelid, eyelash," perhaps related to celare "to cover, hide," from PIE root *kel- "to conceal" (see cell), but words for this part of the face can be tricky (see brow). It sometimes is pluralized in English, which is an error. Related: Ciliated; ciliary; ciliate.
cilice (n.): Old English cilic, from Latin cilicium "a covering," a type of coarse garment (used especially by soldiers and sailors), originally one of Cilician goat hair, from Greek kilikion "coarse cloth," from Kilikia "Cilicia" in Asia Minor. By tradition in Greek mythology the place was named for Cilix, a son of the Phoenician king Agenor.
cill: alternative spelling of sill.
cimex (n.): Latin, "bug, bedbug," also a term of reproach, of uncertain origin. Related: Cimiceous "buggy;" cimicine "smelling of bugs."
Cimmerian (adj.): late 16c., "pertaining to the Cimmerii," an ancient nomadic people who, according to Herodotus, inhabited the region around the Crimea, and who, according to Assyrian sources, overran Asia Minor 7c. B.C.E.; from Latin Cimmerius, from Greek Kimmerios. Homer described their land as a place of perpetual mist and darkness beyond the ocean, but whether he had in mind the same people Herodotus did, or any real place, is unclear.
cinch (v.): 1866, "to pull in," from cinch (n.). Figurative meaning "make certain" is from 1891, American English slang. Related: Cinched; cinching.
cinch (n.): 1859, American English, "saddle-girth," from Spanish cincha "girdle," from Latin cingulum "a girdle, a swordbelt," from cingere "to surround, encircle," from PIE root *kenk- (1) "to gird, encircle" (source also of Sanskrit kankate "binds," kanci "girdle;" Lithuanian kinkau "to harness horses"). Replaced earlier surcingle. Sense of "an easy thing" is 1895 (in lead-pipe cinch), via notion of "a sure hold" (1888).
Cincinnati: city on the Ohio River in Ohio, U.S., founded 1789 and first called Losantiville, name changed 1790 by territorial Gov. Arthur St. Clair, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal veterans' organization founded 1783 by former Revolutionary War officers (St. Clair was a member) and named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, 5c. B.C.E. Roman hero who saved the city from crisis and then retired to his farm rather than rule. His name is a cognomen in the gens Quinctia, literally "with curly hair," from Latin cincinnus "curl, curly hair." Related: Cincinnatian.
cincture (n.): 1580s, from Latin cinctura "a girdle," from cinctus, past participle of cingere "to surround, encircle" (see cinch (n.)). The verb is recorded from 1757 (implied in Cinctured).
cinder (n.): Old English sinder "dross of iron, slag," from Proto-Germanic *sendra- "slag" (source also of Old Saxon sinder "slag, dross," Old Norse sindr, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch sinder, Dutch sintel, Old High German sintar, German Sinter), from PIE root *sendhro- "coagulating fluid" (source also of Old Church Slavonic sedra "cinder").

Initial s- changed to c- under influence of unrelated French cendre "ashes," from Latin cinerem (nominative cinis) "ashes," from or related to Greek konis "dust" (see incinerate). The Latin word was contracted to *cin'rem and the -d- inserted for ease of pronunciation (compare peindre from pingere). The French word also apparently shifted the sense of the English one to "small piece of burnt coal" (16c.). Volcanic cinder cone is recorded from 1849.
Cinderella (n.): pseudo-translation of French Cendrillon, from cendre "ashes" (see cinder). Used figuratively for something unappreciated or something that ends at midnight. A widespread Eurasian folk tale, the oldest known version is Chinese (c.850 C.E.); the English version is based on Perrault's "Cendrillon" (1697), translated from French 1729 by Robert Sambler, but native versions probably existed (such as Scottish "Rashin Coatie"). The German form is Aschenbrödel, literally "scullion," from asche "ash" (see ash (n.1)) + brodeln "bubble up, to brew."
Cindy: fem. proper name, often a familiar or diminutive form of Cynthia, but as a name in its own right among the top 100 for girls born in the U.S. c. 1953-1973.
cine: abbreviation of cinema used in compounds or as a stand-alone, 1928, perhaps partly from French ciné (1917).
cinema (n.): 1899, "a movie hall," from French cinéma, shortened from cinématographe "motion picture projector and camera," coined 1890s by Lumiere brothers, who invented it, from Latinized form of Greek kinemat-, comb. form of kinema "movement," from kinein "to move" (see cite) + graphein "to write" (see -graphy). Meaning "movies collectively, especially as an art form" recorded by 1914. Cinéma vérité is 1963, from French.
cinematic (adj.): 1914, in the movies sense, from French cinématique (1917), from cinéma (see cinema). Related: Cinematically.
cinematographer (n.): 1897, agent noun from cinematograph (see cinematography).
cinematography (n.): 1896, from cinematograph (1896), which has been displaced in English by its shortened form, cinema; from French cínématographe + -graphy.
Cinerama (n.): proprietary name, 1951, from cinema + -rama. Purists point out that the proper formation would be *Cinorama.
cinnabar (n.): mid-15c., "red or crystalline form of mercuric sulphide," also applied to other ores of mercury, originally with reference to its use as a pigment; from Old French cinabre (13c.), from Late Latin cinnabaris, from Greek kinnabari, of oriental origin (compare Persian zanjifrah in the same sense). Also used 14c.-17c. of red resinous juice of a certain Eastern tree, which was believed to be a mixture of dragon's and elephant's blood.
cinnamon (n.): late 14c., from Old French cinnamone (13c.), from Latin cinnamum, cinnamomum "cinnamon" (also used as a term of endearment), from Greek kinnamomon, from a Phoenician word akin to Hebrew qinnamon. Stripped from the bark of a tree in the avocado family. Ceylon cinnamon, the true cinnamon, is used in Britain, but American cinnamon is almost always from the related cassia tree of Southeast Asia and is stronger and sweeter.
cinquain (n.): "collection of five," 1711, from French cinquain "bundle of five objects," from cinq "five" (see five). Originally in English of military orders of battle; of five-lined stanzas of verse from 1882 (give a more specific form in English than usual in French).
cinque (n.): used for "five" in English in some situations, especially at cards or dice, late 14c., from French cinq, dissimilated from Latin quinque "five," in Late Latin also cinque (see five).
Cinque Ports (n.): late 12c. (in Anglo-Latin), late 13c. (in English), from Latin quinque portus (see cinque + port (n.1)). Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney, and Hythe, granted special privileges from the crown in return for defense of the Channel in the days before England had a navy.
cinquecento (n.): "sixteenth century" (in Italian art and literature), from Italian cinquecento, short for mil cinquecento "one thousand five hundred." See cinque + cent.
cinquefoil (n.): from Latin quinquefolium, from quinque (see five) + folium (see folio).
cipher (n.): late 14c., "arithmetical symbol for zero," from Old French cifre "nought, zero," Medieval Latin cifra, with Spanish and Italian cifra, ultimately from Arabic sifr "zero," literally "empty, nothing," from safara "to be empty;" loan-translation of Sanskrit sunya-s "empty." The word came to Europe with Arabic numerals. Originally in English "zero," then "any numeral" (early 15c.), then (first in French and Italian) "secret way of writing; coded message" (a sense first attested in English 1520s), because early codes often substituted numbers for letters. Klein says Modern French chiffre is from Italian cifra.
cipher (v.): "to do arithmetic" (with Arabic numerals), 1520s, from cipher (n.). Meaning "to write in code" is from 1560s. Related: Ciphered; ciphering.
circa (prep.): 1856, from Latin circa "around, round about, near; in the region of; about the time of," alternative form of circum "round about" (see circum-).
circadian (adj.): coined 1959 from Latin circa "about" (see circa) + diem, accusative singular of dies "day" (see diurnal). The original use is in circadian rhythm.
Circe (n.): enchantress of the isle of Aea who transformed into swine those who drank from her cup ("Odyssey"), late 14c., from Latin Circe, from Greek Kirke. Related: Circean.
circle (n.): c. 1300, "figure of a circle," from Old French cercle "circle, ring (for the finger); hoop of a helmet or barrel" (12c.), from Latin circulus "circular figure; small ring, hoop; circular orbit" (also source of Italian cerchio), diminutive of circus "ring" (see circus).

Replaced Old English trendel and hring. Late Old English used circul, from Latin, but only in an astronomical sense. Meaning "group of persons surrounding a center of interest" is from 1714 (it also was a secondary sense of Latin circulus); that of "coterie" is from 1640s (a sense also found in Latin circulus). To come full circle is in Shakespeare.
circle (v.): late 14c., cerclen, "to shape like a globe," also "to encompass or surround," from circle (n.). From c. 1400 as "to set in a circular pattern;" mid-15c. as "to move in a circle." Related: Circled; circling. To circle the wagons, figuratively, "assume an alert defensive stance" is from 1969, from old Western movies.
circlet (n.): late 15c., from Middle French cerclet, diminutive of cercle (see circle (n.)).
circuit (n.): late 14c., "a going around; a line going around," from Old French circuit (14c.) "a circuit; a journey (around something)," from Latin circuitus "a going around," from stem of circuire, circumire "go around," from circum "round" (see circum-) + ire "to go" (see ion). Electrical sense is from 1746. Of judicial assignments, from 1570s; of venues for itinerant entertainers, from 1834. Circuit breaker is recorded from 1874. Related: Circuital.
circuit (v.): "to go around," early 15c., from circuit (n.). Related: Circuited; circuiting.
circuitous (adj.): 1660s, from Medieval Latin circuitous "full of roundabout ways," from Latin circuitus "a going round" (see circuit (n.)). Related: Circuitously; circuitousness.
circuitry (n.): 1946, from circuit (n.)+ -ry.