Online Etymology Dictionary

knapweed (n.): so called for its knobby heads, from Middle English knap "ornamental knob; bunch or tuft; a button; knot or protuberance on a tree; joint in the stalk of a plant; testicle," from Old English cnæp "top, summit of a hill," or its cognate, Old Norse knappr "a knob, button, stud."
lender (n.): mid-15c., agent noun from lend (v.). Old English had laenere, agent noun from lænan; the Middle English word might be a new formation or it might be the older word with an intrusive -d- from lend.
froth (n.): c. 1300, from an unrecorded Old English word, or else from Old Norse froða "froth," from Proto-Germanic *freuth- "froth" (source also of Swedish fradga, Danish fraade). Old English had afreoðan "to froth," from the same root. The modern verb is late 14c., from the noun. Related: Frothed; frothing.
feal (v.): "to hide, conceal," early 14c., a Northern English and Northern Midlands word, from Old Norse fela "to hide," from Proto-Germanic *felhan (source also of Gothic filhan "to hide, bury," Old English feolan "enter, penetrate, pass into").
Lhasa: capital of Tibet, Tibetan, literally "city of the gods," from lha "god" + sa "city." The Lhasa apso type of dog is so called from 1935 in English, from Tibetan, literally "Lhasa terrier." Earlier name in English was Lhasa terrier (1894).
little (n.): late Old English, "small piece, small quantity or amount; a short time; unimportant persons," from little (adj.). Little by little is from late 15c. (litylle be litille). Old English also had lytling "little one, infant child; unimportant person."
crawfish (n.): 1620s, variant of crayfish. Not originally an American form. Also in 19c. American English as a verb, "to back out," in reference to the creature's movements.
creed (n.): Old English creda "article or statement of Christian belief," from Latin credo "I believe" (see credo). Broadening 17c. to mean "any statement of belief."
dazzle (v.): late 15c., frequentative of Middle English dasen (see daze (v.)). Originally intransitive; the transitive sense is from 1530s. Related: Dazzled; dazzling.
dearborn (n.): "light four-wheeled wagon," 1821, American English, supposedly from the name of the inventor, by tradition said to be Gen. Henry Dearborn (1751-1829).
cuss (n.): 1775, American English dialectal, "troublesome person or animal," an alteration of curse (n.), or else a shortening of the slang sense of customer.
cymbal (n.): from Old English cimbal and from Old French cymbale (13c.), both from Latin cymbalum, from Greek kymbalon "a cymbal," from kymbe "bowl, drinking cup."
crinkle (v.): late 14c., from frequentative of Old English crincan, variant of cringan "to bend, yield" (see cringe). Related: Crinkled; crinkling. As a noun from 1590s.
abalone (n.): type of marine shell, 1850, American English, from Spanish abulon from Costanoan (a California coastal Indian language family) aluan "red abalone."
farad (n.): unit of electric capacity, suggested 1861, first used 1868, named for English physicist Michael Faraday (1791-1867). Related: Faradic.
gecko (n.): 1774, from Malay gekoq, said to be imitative of its cry. Earlier forms in English were chacco (1711), jackoa (1727).
halve (v.): Middle English halven, halfen "to divide in halves" (c. 1200), from half (n.). Meaning "to reduce by half" is from c. 1400. Related: Halved; halving.
killdeer (n.): also killdee, species of large North American ring-plover, 1731, American English. The name is imitative of its shrill, two-syllable cry.
kilter (n.): "order, good condition," in out of kilter (1620s), apparently a variant of English dialectal kelter (c. 1600) "good condition, order," a word of unknown origin.
kind (adj.): "friendly, deliberately doing good to others," Middle English kinde, from Old English (ge)cynde "natural, native, innate," originally "with the feeling of relatives for each other," from Proto-Germanic *kundi- "natural, native," from *kunjam "family" (see kin), with collective or generalizing prefix *ga- and abstract suffix *-iz. The word rarely appeared in Old English without the prefix, but Old English also had it as a word-forming element -cund "born of, of a particular nature" (see kind (n.)). Sense development probably is from "with natural feelings," to "well-disposed" (c. 1300), "benign, compassionate, loving, full of tenderness" (c. 1300).
kit (n.2): "small fiddle used by dancing teachers," 1510s, probably ultimately a shortening of Old English cythere, from Latin cithara, from Greek kithara (see guitar).
Ebonics (n.): "African-American vernacular English," 1975, as title of a book by U.S. professor R.L. Williams (b.1930); a blend of ebony and phonics.
Edgar: masc. proper name, from Old English Ead-gar, literally "prosperity-spear," from ead "prosperity" (see Edith) + gar "spear" (see gar).
idle (adj.): Old English idel "empty, void; vain; worthless, useless," common West Germanic (cognates: Old Saxon idal, Old Frisian idel "empty, worthless," Old Dutch idil, Old High German ital, German eitel "vain, useless, mere, pure"), of unknown origin.

Subsequent developments are peculiar to English: sense "not employed, not doing work" was in late Old English in reference to persons; from 1520s of things; from 1805 of machinery. Meaning "lazy, slothful" is from c. 1300. In Elizabethan English it also could mean "foolish, delirious, wandering in the mind." Idle threats preserves original sense.
jams (n.): 1966, abstracted from pajamas (q.v.). Much earlier English picked up jam "a kind of frock for children" (1793) from Hindi jamah.
Jehosaphat: biblical name (II Sam. viii:16), used as a mild expletive in American English from 1857; presumably another euphemistic substitution for Jesus.
prom (n.): "student formal dance in celebration of graduation," 1894, American English shortened form of promenade (n.). Prom dress attested from 1975.
pronto (adv.): 1850, from Spanish pronto, perhaps influenced by Italian pronto (borrowed by English 1740), both from Latin promptus (see prompt).
ne'er-do-well (n.): "one who is good for nothing," 1737, Scottish and northern English dialect, from contraction of phrase never do well. The adjective is first recorded 1773.
okapi (n.): short-necked giraffe of central Africa, 1900, from the animal's name in Mbuba (Congo). Reported by English explorer Sir Harry Johnston (1858-1927).
underbrush (n.): "shrub and small trees in a forest," 1775, from under + brush (n.2). Originally American English; compare undergrowth, attested in the same sense from 1600.
papacy (n.): late 14c., from Medieval Latin papatia "papal office," from Late Latin papa "pope" (see pope). Old English had papdom in this sense.
varmint (n.): 1530s, varment; the chiefly American English dialectal form varmint is attested from 1829; variant of vermin. Meaning "objectionable or troublesome person" is recorded from 1773.
Randal: masc. proper name, shortened from Old English Randwulf, from rand "shield" (see rand) + wulf "wolf" (see wolf (n.)). Compare Randolph.
gerbil (n.): 1849, gerbile, from French gerbille, from Modern Latin Gerbillus, the genus name, from gerbo, from Arabic yarbu. Earlier English form, jarbuah (1660s), was directly from Arabic.
fiery (adj.): late 13c., "flaming, full of fire," from Middle English fier "fire" (see fire (n.)) + -y (2). The spelling is a relic of one of the attempts to render Old English "y" in fyr in a changing system of vowel sounds. Other Middle English spellings include firi, furi, fuiri, vuiri, feri. From c. 1400 as "blazing red." Of persons, from late 14c. Related: Fieriness. As adjectives Old English had fyrbære "fiery, fire-bearing;" fyren "of fire, fiery, on fire;" fyrenful; fyrhat "hot as fire."
headache (n.): Old English heafodece; see head (n.) + ache (n.). Colloquial sense of "troublesome problem" is first recorded 1934. Related: Headachy (1705).
he-he: imitative of laughter, Old English.
Ha ha and he he getacniað hlehter on leden and on englisc. [Ælfric, "Grammar," c. 1000]
delicatessen (n.): 1889, American English, from German delikatessen, plural of delikatesse "a delicacy, fine food," from French délicatesse (1560s), from délicat "fine," from Latin delicatus (see delicate).
Malthusian (n.): 1812, from the teachings of English economist Thomas R. Malthus (1766-1835), especially with regard to population increase. As an adjective by 1818. Related: Malthusianism.
wannabe (n.): 1981, originally American English surfer slang, from casual pronunciation of want to be; popularized c. 1984 in reference to female fans of pop singer Madonna.
Warwickshire: 11c., from Old English Wærincwicum + scir "district." The first element means "dwellings by the weir or river-dam," from *wæring + wic (see wick (2)).
yip (v.): 1891, possibly from dialectal yip "to cheep like a bird" (early 19c.), from Middle English yippen (mid-15c.), of imitative origin. As a noun from 1896.
yokel (n.): 1812, perhaps from dialectal German Jokel, disparaging name for a farmer, originally diminutive of Jakob. Or perhaps from English yokel, dialectal name for "woodpecker."
yolk (n.): Old English geolca, geoloca "yolk," literally "the yellow part," from geolu "yellow" (see yellow (adj.)). Formerly also spelled yelk.
zoot suit (n.): 1942, American English slang, the first element probably a nonsense reduplication of suit (compare reet pleat, drape shape from the same jargon).
femur (n.): 1560s, at first in English as an architectural term; 1799 as "thighbone;" from Latin femur "thigh, upper part of the thigh," which is of unknown origin.
cassava (n.): 1560s, from French cassave, Spanish casabe, or Portuguese cassave, from Taino (Haiti) caçabi. Earlier in English as cazabbi (1550s).
adobe (n.): 1739, American English, from Spanish adobe, from oral form of Arabic al-tob "the brick," from Coptic tube "brick," a word found in hieroglyphics.
dent (n.): early 14c., "a strike or blow," dialectal variant of Middle English dint (q.v.); sense of "indentation" first recorded 1560s, apparently influenced by indent.