Online Etymology Dictionary

ebullience (n.): 1749, from Latin ebullientem (nominative ebulliens) "a boiling, a bursting forth, overflow," present participle of ebullire "to boil over" (see ebullient). Related: Ebulliency (1670s), ebullition (c. 1400).
ebullient (adj.): 1590s, "boiling," from Latin ebullientem (nominative ebulliens), present participle of ebullire "to boil over," literally or figuratively, from ex- "out" (see ex-) + bullire "to bubble" (see boil (v.)). Figurative sense of "enthusiastic" is first recorded 1660s.
ec-: typical form in English of Latin ex-, Greek ex-, ek- before consonants (as in eclipse, ecstasy). See ex-.
ecarte (n.): card game for two played with 32 cards, 1824, from French écarté, literally "discarded," past participle of écarter "to discard," from e- (see ex-) + carte (see card (n.)). So called because the players may discard cards in his hand after the deal and get new ones from the deck.
ecbatic (adj.): "drawn from the relationship of cause and effect," especially of arguments, 1836, from ecbasis, from Latin ecbasis, from Greek ekbasis "a going out, issue, event," from ek- "out" (see ex-) + basis "a step, a base," from bainein "to go, step" (see come).
ecce homo: Latin, literally "behold the man" (John xix:5), from Latin ecce "lo!, behold!" Christ crowned with thorns, especially as the subject of a painting.
eccentric (n.): early 15c., "eccentric circle or orbit," originally a term in Ptolemaic astronomy, "circle or orbit not having the Earth precisely at its center," from Middle French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective), from Greek ekkentros "out of the center" (as opposed to concentric), from ek "out" (see ex-) + kentron "center" (see center (n.)). Meaning "odd or whimsical person" is attested by 1817 (S.W. Ryley, "The Itinerant, or Memoirs of an Actor").
June 4 [1800].--Died in the streets in Newcastle, William Barron, an eccentric, well known for many years by the name of Billy Pea-pudding. [John Sykes, "Local Records, or Historical Register of Remarkable Events which have Occurred Exclusively in the Counties of Durham and Northumberland, Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and Berwick Upon Tweed," Newcastle, 1824]
eccentric (adj.): 1550s, from Middle French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective; see eccentric (n.)). Of persons, figurative sense of "odd, whimsical" first recorded 1620s. "Eccentric is applied to acts which are the effects of tastes, prejudices, judgments, etc., not merely different from those of ordinary people, but largely unaccountable and often irregular ..." [Century Dictionary].
eccentricity (n.): 1540s, of planetary orbits; 1650s, of persons (an instance of eccentricity); 1794, of persons (a quality of eccentricity); from eccentric (adj.) + -ity or from Modern Latin eccentricitatem, from eccentricus. Related: Eccentricities.
Ecclesiastes (n.): c. 1300, name given to one of the Old Testament books, traditionally ascribed to Solomon, from Greek ekklesiastes (see ecclesiastic), to render Hebrew qoheleth "one who addresses an assembly," from qahal "assembly." The title is technically the designation of the speaker, but that word throughout is usually rendered into English as "The Preacher" (which Klein calls "erroneous," as the modern meaning of preacher is not synonymous with the Greek word).
ecclesiastic (adj.): late 15c., from Middle French ecclésiastique and directly from Late Latin ecclesiasticus, from Greek ekklesiastikos "of the (ancient Athenian) assembly," in late Greek, "of the church," from ekklesiastes "speaker in an assembly or church, preacher," from ekkalein "to call out," from ek "out" (see ex-) + kalein "to call" (see claim (v.)). As a noun, "one holding an office in the Christian ministry," 1650s; it also was used as a noun in Late Latin.
ecclesiastical (adj.): early 15c., from ecclesiastic + -al (1). Related: Ecclesiastically.
ecdysiast (n.): H.L. Mencken's invented proper word for "strip-tease artist," 1940, from Greek ekdysis "a stripping or casting off" (used scientifically in English from mid-19c. with reference to serpents shedding skin and molting birds or crustacea), from ekdyein "to put off one's clothes, take off, strip off" (contrasted with endyo "to put on"), from ek (see ex-) + dyein "to enter, to put on."
echelon (n.): 1796, echellon, "step-like arrangement of troops," from French échelon "level, echelon," literally "rung of a ladder," from Old French eschelon, from eschiele "ladder," from Late Latin scala "stair, slope," from Latin scalae (plural) "ladder, steps," from PIE *skand- "to spring, leap" (see scan (v.)). Sense of "level, subdivision" is from World War I.
echidna (n.): Australian egg-laying hedgehog-like mammal, 1810, said to have been named by Cuvier, usually explained as from Greek ekhidna "snake, viper" (also used metaphorically of a treacherous wife or friend), from ekhis "snake," from PIE *angwhi- "snake, eel" (source also of Norwegian igle, Old High German egala, German Egel "leech," Latin anguis "serpent, snake"). But this sense is difficult to reconcile with this animal (unless it is a reference to the ant-eating tongue). The name perhaps belongs to Latin echinus, Greek ekhinos "sea-urchin," originally "hedgehog" (in Greek also "sharp points"), which Watkins explains as "snake-eater," from ekhis "snake." The 1810 Encyclopaedia Britannica gives as the animal's alternative name "porcupine ant-eater." Or, more likely, the name refers to Echidna as the name of a serpent-nymph in Greek mythology, "a beautiful woman in the upper part of her body; but instead of legs and feet, she had from the waist downward, the form of a serpent," in which case the animal was so named for its mixed characteristics (early naturalists doubted whether it was mammal or amphibian).
echinoderm (n.): 1834, from Modern Latin Echinodermata, name of the phylum that includes starfish and sea urchins, from Latinized form of Greek ekhinos "sea urchin," originally "porcupine, hedgehog" (see echidna) + derma (genitive dermatos) "skin" (see derma); so called from its spiky shell. Related: Echinodermal.
echo (n.): mid-14c., "sound repeated by reflection," from Latin echo, from Greek echo, personified in classical mythology as a mountain nymph who pined away for love of Narcissus until nothing was left of her but her voice, from or related to ekhe "sound," ekhein "to resound," from PIE *wagh-io-, extended form of root *(s)wagh- "to resound" (source also of Sanskrit vagnuh "sound," Latin vagire "to cry," Old English swogan "to resound"). Related: Echoes. Echo chamber attested from 1937.
echo (v.): 1550s (intrans.), c. 1600 (trans.), from echo (n.). Related: Echoed; echoing.
echoic (adj.): 1880; see echo (n.) + -ic. A word from the OED.
Onomatopoeia, in addition to its awkwardness, has neither associative nor etymological application to words imitating sounds. It means word-making or word-coining and is strictly as applicable to Comte's altruisme as to cuckoo. Echoism suggests the echoing of a sound heard, and has the useful derivatives echoist, echoize, and echoic instead of onomatopoetic, which is not only unmanageable, but when applied to words like cuckoo, crack, erroneous; it is the voice of the cuckoo, the sharp sound of breaking, which are onomatopoetic or word-creating, not the echoic words which they create. [James A.H. Murray, Philological Society president's annual address, 1880]
echolalia (n.): "meaningless repetition of words and phrases," 1876, from German (von Romberg, 1865), from Greek ekho (see echo (n.)) + lalia "talk, prattle, a speaking," from lalein "to speak, prattle," of echoic origin.
echolocation (n.): 1944, from echo (n.) + location.
echopraxia (n.): "meaningless imitation of the movements of others," 1902, from Greek ekho (see echo (n.)) + praxis "action" (see praxis).
echovirus (n.): also ECHO virus, 1955, acronym for enteric cytopathogenic human orphan; "orphan" because when discovered they were not known to cause any disease.
eclair (n.): "small, oblong cake filled with cream or custard and glazed or iced," 1861, from French éclair, literally "lightning," from Old French esclair "light, daylight, flash of light," verbal noun from esclairare "to light up, illuminate, make shine" (12c.), formerly esclairer, ultimately from Latin exclarare "light up, illumine," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + clarus "clear" (see clear (adj.)).
eclampsia (n.): 1866, from Modern Latin, from Greek eklampsis "a shining forth, exceeding brightness," from ek- "out" (see ex-) + stem of lampein "to shine" (see lamp) + abstract noun ending -ia.
eclat (n.): 1670s, "showy brilliance," from French éclat "splinter, fragment" (12c.), also "flash of brilliance," from eclater "burst out; shine brilliantly; splinter, fly to fragments," from Old French esclater "smash, shatter into pieces," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Germanic word related to slit (v.) and to Old High German skleizen "tear to pieces; to split, cleave." Extended sense of "conspicuous success" is first recorded in English in 1741.
eclectic (adj.): 1680s, "not confined to or following any one model or system," originally in reference to ancient philosophers who selected doctrines from every system; from French eclectique (1650s), from Greek eklektikos "selective," literally "picking out," from eklektos "selected," from eklegein "pick out, select," from ek "out" (see ex-) + legein "gather, choose" (see lecture (n.)). Broader sense of "borrowed from diverse sources" is first recorded 1847. As a noun from 1817.
eclecticism (n.): 1798, from eclectic + -ism.
eclipse (n.): c. 1300, from Old French eclipse "eclipse, darkness" (12c.), from Latin eclipsis, from Greek ekleipsis "an eclipse; an abandonment," literally "a failing, forsaking," from ekleipein "to forsake a usual place, fail to appear, be eclipsed," from ek "out" (see ex-) + leipein "to leave" (cognate with Latin linquere; see relinquish).
eclipse (v.): late 13c., "to cause an eclipse of," from Old French eclipser, from eclipse (see eclipse (n.)).Figurative use from 1570s. Also in Middle English in an intransitive sense "to suffer an eclipse," now obsolete. Related: Eclipsed; eclipsing.
ecliptic (n.): "the circle in the sky followed by the Sun," late 14c., from Medieval Latin ecliptica, from Late Latin (linea) ecliptica, from Greek ekliptikos "of an eclipse" (see eclipse (n.)). So called because eclipses happen only when the Moon is near the line. Related: Ecliptical.
eclogue (n.): "short poem," especially a pastoral dialogue, mid-15c., from Latin ecloga "selection, short poem, eclogue," from Greek ekloge "a selection," especially of poems, from eklegein "to select" (see eclectic).
eco-: word-forming element referring to the environment and man's relation to it, abstracted from ecology, ecological; attested from 1969.
ecocentric (adj.): also eco-centric, by 1975, from eco- + -centric.
ecofriendly (adj.): also eco-friendly, by 1993, from eco- + friendly.
ecological (adj.): 1899, see ecology + -ical. Related: Ecologically.
ecologist (n.): 1893, see ecology + -ist.
ecology (n.): 1873, oecology, "branch of science dealing with the relationship of living things to their environments," coined in German by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) as Ökologie, from Greek oikos "house, dwelling place, habitation" (see villa) + -logia "study of" (see -logy). In use with reference to anti-pollution activities from 1960s.
econometric (adj.): 1933, from economy + -metric. Related: Econometrics.
economic (adj.): 1590s, "pertaining to management of a household," perhaps shortened from economical, or else from French économique or directly from Latin oeconomicus "of domestic economy," from Greek oikonomikos "practiced in the management of a household or family" (also the name of a treatise by Xenophon on the duties of domestic life), hence, "frugal, thrifty," from oikonomia "household management" (see economy (n.)). Meaning "relating to the science of economics" is from 1835 and now is the main sense, economical retaining the older one of "characterized by thrift."
economical (adj.): 1570s, "pertaining to household management;" from economic + -al (1). Sense of "pertaining to political economy" is from 1781, but that sense more commonly goes with economic, and the main modern sense of this spelling is "thrifty" (1780). Related: Economically.
economics (n.): 1580s, "art of managing a household," perhaps from French économique (see economic); also see -ics. Meaning "science of wealth" is from 1792.
economise (v.): chiefly British English spelling of economize. For suffix, see -ize. Related: Economised; economising.
economist (n.): 1580s, "household manager," from Middle French économiste; see economy + -ist. Meaning "student of political economy" is from 1804.
economize (v.): 1640s, "to govern a household," from economy + -ize. Meaning "to spend less, be sparing in outlay" is from 1790. Related: Economized; economizing; economization; economizer.
economy (n.): 1530s, "household management," from Latin oeconomia (source of French économie, Spanish economia, German Ökonomie, etc.), from Greek oikonomia "household management, thrift," from oikonomos "manager, steward," from oikos "house, abode, dwelling" (cognate with Latin vicus "district," vicinus "near;" Old English wic "dwelling, village;" see villa) + nomos "managing," from nemein "manage" (see numismatic). Meaning "frugality, judicious use of resources" is from 1660s. The sense of "wealth and resources of a country" (short for political economy) is from 1650s.
economy (adj.): 1821 as a term in advertising, at first meant simply "cheaper," then "bigger and thus cheaper per unit or amount" (1950). See economy (n.).
ecosphere (n.): region around a star where conditions allow life-bearing planets to exist, 1953; see eco- + sphere. Apparently coined by German-born U.S. physician and space medicine pioneer Hubertus Strughold (1898-1986).
ecosystem (n.): 1935; see eco- + system. Perhaps coined by English ecologist Sir Arthur George Tansley (1871-1955).
ecotourism (n.): by 1984, from eco- + tourism. Related: Ecotourist.