Online Etymology Dictionary

finale (n.): 1783, a musical term, from noun use of Italian finale "final," from Latin finalis "of or pertaining to an end" (see final). From 1724 as an Italian word in English. Figurative use by 1810.
haversack (n.): 1735, from French havresac (1670s), from Low German hafersach "cavalry trooper's bag for horse provender," literally "oat sack," from the common Germanic word for "oat" (see haver (n.1)) + sack (n.1).
demo (n.): 1963, "music recording given out for promotional purposes," short for demonstration (tape, disc, etc.). The word was used earlier to mean "a public political demonstration" (1936).
gizmo (n.): 1942, "Marine and Navy usage for any old thing you can't put a name to" ["Life" magazine, July 30, 1945], of unknown origin, perhaps a made-up word. Compare gadget, thingamajig.
hara-kiri (n.): "suicide by disembowelment," 1856, from Japanese, literally "belly-cutting," the colloquial word for what is formally called seppuku "cut open the stomach;" from hara "belly" + kiri "to cut." Sometimes erroneously written hari-kari.
mallow (n.): late 14c., from late Old English malwe, from Latin malva "mallows," from a pre-Latin Mediterranean language. The same lost word apparently yielded Greek malakhe "mallow."
mambo (n.): popular dance (like the rhumba but livelier), September 1948, from American Spanish mambo, said by Webster to be from Haitian creole word for "voodoo priestess."
-emia: word-forming element in pathology meaning "condition of the blood," Modern Latin comb. form of Greek haima (genitive haimatos) "blood," possibly from hypothetical PIE root *sai- (3) "thick liquid."
bast (n.): "inner bark of the linden tree," Old English bæst, a general Germanic word (cognate with Old Norse, Old Saxon, Middle Dutch, Old High German, German bast) of uncertain origin.
yuppie (n.): 1982, acronym from "young urban professional," ousting competition from yumpie (1984), from "young upward-mobile professional," and yap (1984), from "young aspiring professional." The word was felt as an insult by 1985.
zap: 1929 as a sound, 1942 as a verb; a comic strip word (especially from "Buck Rogers in the Twenty-Fifth Century"), of imitative origin. Meaning "erase electronically" is 1982. Related: Zapped; zapping.
emmet (n.): "ant," from Old English æmete (see ant), surviving as a dialect word in parts of England; also, according to OED, in Cornwall a colloquial name for holiday tourists.
-fest: word-forming element in colloquial compounds (hen-fest, gabfest, etc.), from 1889, American English, borrowed from German Fest "festival," abstracted from Volksfest, etc., from Middle High German vëst, from Latin festum (see festivity).
feverfew (n.): Old English feferfuge, from Late Latin febrifugia, from Latin febris "fever" + fugare "put to flight" (see febrifuge). So called for its medical usage. The modern English word probably is reborrowed from an Anglo-French source.
cashier (n.): "person in charge of money," 1590s, from Middle French caissier "treasurer," from caisse "money box" (see cash (n.)). The immediate source of the English word might be Middle Dutch kassier.
bark (n.1): "tree skin," c. 1300, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse borkr "bark," from Proto-Germanic *barkuz, which probably is related to birch and Low German borke. The native word was rind.
teens (n.): 1670s (plural), "teen-age years of a person," formed from -teen taken as a separate word. As "decade of years comprising numbers ending in -teen," from 1889.
-mancy: word-forming element meaning "divination by means of," from Old French -mancie, from Late Latin -mantia, from Greek manteia "oracle, divination," from mantis "seer, prophet, soothsayer," related to mania "madness, frenzy" (see mania).
mantissa (n.): decimal part of a logarithm, 1865, from Latin mantisa "a worthless addition, makeweight," perhaps a Gaulish word introduced into Latin via Etruscan (compare Old Irish meit, Welsh maint "size").
nesh (adj.): "tender, delicate, weak," now a Northern England dialect word, from Old English hnesce "soft in texture" (cognate with early modern Dutch nesch, Gothic hnasqus), of unknown origin.
recant (v.): 1530s, from Latin recantare "recall, revoke," from re- "back" (see re-) + cantare "to chant" (see chant (v.)). A word from the Reformation. Loan-translation of Greek palinoidein "recant," from palin "back" + oeidein "to sing." Related: Recanted; recanting.
cephalo-: before vowels, cephal-, word-forming element meaning "head, skull, brain," Modern Latin combining form of Greek kephale "head," perhaps from PIE *ghebh-el-.
vireo (n.): small American bird, 1834, a modern use of Latin vireo, a word Pliny applied to some kind of bird, believed to be the European greenfinch, from virere "be green" (see verdure).
chapbook (n.): also chap-book, 1824, shortened from chap(man) book, so called because chapmen (see cheap) once sold such books on the street. A modern word for a type of old book.
chasten (v.): 1520s, with -en (1) + the word it replaced, obsolete verb chaste "to correct (someone's) behavior" (Middle English chastien, c. 1200), from Old French chastiier "to punish" (see chastise). Related: Chastened; chastening.
-aholic: word-forming element abstracted from alcoholic; first in sugarholic (1965), foodoholic (sic., 1965); later in workaholic (1968), golfaholic (1971), chocoholic (1971), and shopaholic (1984).
dirigible (n.): "airship," 1885, from French dirigeable, literally "capable of being directed or guided," from Latin dirigere (see direct (v.)). The word existed as an adjective in English from 1580s, with the literal sense.
endo-: word-forming element meaning "inside, within, internal," comb. form of Greek endon "in, within," from PIE *en-do-, extended form of root *en "in" (see in (adv.)).
dill (n.): Old English dile "dill, anise," a Germanic word of unknown origin (cognates: Old Saxon dilli, Middle Dutch and Dutch dille, Swedish dill, German Dill).
Nipponese: "Japanese," 1859, from Nippon, Japanese word for "Japan," from ni(chi) "the sun" + pon, hon "source," which is said to be from Chinese for "rising sun-place." Derisive slang shortening Nip attested from 1942.
flim-flam (n.): also flimflam, 1530s, a contemptuous echoic construction, perhaps connected to some unrecorded dialectal word from Scandinavian (compare Old Norse flim "a lampoon"). From 1650s as a verb. Related: Flim-flammer.
grackle (n.): 1772, gracule, from genus name Gracula, Modern Latin use of fem. of Latin graculus "jackdaw, European crow," perhaps of imitative origin (compare crow (n.), crane (n.)). The Englished form of the word is attested from 1782.
hernia (n.): late 14c., hirnia, from Latin hernia "a rupture," related to hira "intestine," from PIE *ghere- "gut, entrail" (see yarn). The re-Latinized spelling of the English word is from 17c. Related: Herniated (1819).
ingenuity (n.): 1590s, "honor, nobility," from Middle French ingénuité "quality of freedom by birth" and directly from Latin ingenuitatem (nominative ingenuitas) "condition of a free-born man," figuratively "frankness, generosity, noble-mindedness," from ingenuus "frank, candid, noble" (see ingenuous).

Etymologically, this word belongs to ingenuous, but in 17c. ingenious "intellectual, talented" and ingenuous so often were confused (even by Shakespeare) that ingenuity in English has come to mean only "capacity for invention or construction." That sense of this word is first attested 1640s; the word for it in Middle English was ingeniosity (the native word is craftiness). French ingénuité has evolved through "natural and graceful freedom of manners" to "graceful simplicity" (compare ingenue); for the sense "ingeniousness," French uses ingénuosité.
Lilliputian (adj.): "diminutive, tiny," literally "pertaining to Lilliput," the fabulous island whose inhabitants were six inches high, a name coined by Jonathan Swift in "Gulliver's Travels" (1726). Swift left no explanation of the origin of the word.
liqueur (n.): "sweetened, flavored alcoholic liquor," 1729, from French liqueur "liquor, liquid," from Old French licor "liquid." See liquor, which is the same word but borrowed earlier.
Masonite: 1926, proprietary name of a type of fiberboard, by Mason Fibre Company, Laurel, Mississippi, U.S. As a word in mineralogy for a type of chloritoid, it honors Owen Mason of Providence, R.I.
ort (n.): "remains of food left from a meal," mid-15c., probably cognate with early Dutch ooraete, Low German ort, from or-, privative prefix, + etan "to eat" (see eat (v.)). Perhaps from an unrecorded Old English word.
matchcoat (n.): fur-skinned mantle worn by Native Americans, 1640s, originally matchco, probably a native word (compare Ojibwa majigoode "petticoat, woman's dress"), altered by influence of coat (n.).
non-fiction (adj.): also nonfiction, 1866, a librarians' word, first in the reports of the Boston Public Library, from non- + fiction. Apparently not in widespread use until after 1900.
pecan (n.): 1712, paccan "the pecan tree," or a related hickory, from French pacane, from an Algonquian word meaning "nut" (compare Cree pakan "hard-shelled nut," Ojibwa bagaan, Abenaki pagann, Fox /paka:ni/).
-osis: word-forming element expressing state or condition, in medical terminology denoting "a state of disease," from Latin -osis and directly from Greek -osis, formed from the aorist of verbs ending in -o. It corresponds to Latin -atio.
oval (adj.): 1570s, from Modern Latin ovalis "egg-shaped" (source of French oval, 1540s), literally "of or pertaining to an egg," from Latin ovum "egg" (see ovary). The classical Latin word was ovatus.
theco-: before vowels thec-, word-forming element used in botany and zoology with the sense "case, capsule," from Latinized combining form of Greek theke "case, receptacle," from root of tithenai "to put, place" (see theme).
thermo-: before vowels therm-, word-forming element meaning "hot, heat, temperature," used in scientific and technical words, from comb. form of Greek thermos "hot, warm," therme "heat" (see thermal).
wren (n.): small, migratory singing bird, Old English wrenna, metathesis variation of earlier werna, a Germanic word of uncertain origin. Compare Icelandic rindill, Old High German wrendo, wrendilo "wren."
billiards (n.): 1590s, from French billiard, originally the word for the wooden cue stick, a diminutive from Old French bille "stick of wood," from Medieval Latin billia "tree, trunk," possibly from Gaulish (compare Irish bile "tree trunk").
bit (n.2): computerese word, 1948 abbreviation coined by U.S. computer pioneer John W. Tukey (1915-2000) of binary digit, probably chosen for its identity with bit (n.1).
amicable (adj.): early 15c., from Late Latin amicabilis "friendly," a word in Roman law, from Latin amicus "friend," related to amare "to love" (see Amy). Also see amiable.
amphi-: before a vowel amph-, word-forming element from Greek amphi- "both, of both kinds, on both sides, around," from amphi "round about, around;" cognate with Latin ambi- (see ambi-).