Online Etymology Dictionary

histrionic (adj.): "theatrical" (figuratively, "hypocritical"), 1640s, from French histrionique "pertaining to an actor," from stem of Latin histrio (genitive histrionis) "actor," a word said to be of Etruscan origin. The literal sense in English is from 1759. The earlier adjective was histrionical (1550s). Related: Histrionically.
fob (n.): 1650s, "men's small waist pocket for valuables," of uncertain origin, probably related to Low German fobke "pocket," High German fuppe "pocket," "a dialectal word used in Livonia" [Klein]. Meaning "chain or ornament attached to a watch carried in the fob" is by 1888, shortened from fob chain.
font (n.1): "water basin," especially used in baptism, late Old English, from Latin fons (genitive fontis) "fountain" (see fountain), especially in Medieval Latin fons baptismalis "baptismal font." The word is sometimes used poetically for "a fountain; a source."
grandeur (n.): c. 1500, "loftiness, height," from Middle French grandeur, from Old French grandor "size, height, extent, magnitude; greatness" (12c.), from grand "great" (see grand (adj.)). "Being a word of late adoption, it retains the Fr. form -eur of the suffix." Extended sense of "majesty, stateliness" in English is first recorded 1660s.
grandiose (adj.): 1828 (earlier as a French word in English), from French grandiose "impressive, grand in effect" (18c.), from Italian grandioso (which also was borrowed directly into English as a musical term), from Latin grandis "big" (see grand (adj.)). Related: Grandiosely.
graphology (n.): "study of handwriting," 1882, from French graphologie, coined 1868 by Abbé Jean-Hippolyte Michon (1806-1881) from Greek graphein "to write" (see -graphy) + -ologie (see -ology). Especially, "character study based on handwriting" (1886); an earlier word for this was graptomancy (1858).
intricate (adj.): early 15c., from Latin intricatus "entangled," past participle of intricare "to entangle, perplex, embarrass," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + tricae (plural) "perplexities, hindrances, toys, tricks," a word of uncertain origin (compare extricate). Related: Intricately; intricateness.
invidious (adj.): c. 1600, from Latin invidiosus "full of envy, envious" (also "exciting hatred, hateful"), from invidia "envy, grudge, jealousy, ill will" (see envy (n.)). Envious is the same word, but passed through French. Related: Invidiously; invidiousness.
Iroquois: 1660s (adj.); 1670s (n.) "member of the confederated Indian tribes of central New York," from French (c. 1600); not an Iroquoian word, perhaps from an Algonquian language. Related: Iroquoian (1690s). Originally the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onodagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.
isthmus (n.): 1550s, from Latin isthmus, from Greek isthmos "narrow passage, narrow neck of land between two seas," originally especially that of Corinth, a word of unknown origin. Perhaps from eimi "to go" + suffix -thmo (compare ithma "a step, movement").
homo- (1): before vowels hom-, word-forming element meaning "same, the same, equal, like" (opposed to hetero-), from Greek homos "one and the same," also "belonging to two or more jointly," from PIE *somo-, from root *sem- (1) "as one; together with" (see same).
homonym (n.): "word pronounced and perhaps spelled the same as another but different in meaning," 1807, from French homonyme and directly from Latin homonymum (Quintilian), from Greek homonymon, neuter of homonymos, from homos "same" (see homo- (1)) + onyma, dialectal form of onoma "name" (see name (n.)). Related: Homonymic.
loss (n.): Old English los "loss, destruction," from Proto-Germanic *lausa- (see lose). The modern word, however, probably evolved 14c. with a weaker sense, from lost, the original past participle of lose. Phrase at a loss (1590s) originally refers to hounds losing the scent. To cut (one's) losses is from 1885, originally in finance.
media (n.): "newspapers, radio, TV, etc." 1927, perhaps abstracted from mass media (1923, a technical term in advertising), plural of medium, on notion of "intermediate agency," a sense found in that word in English from c. 1600.
medlar (n.): "small fruit-bearing tree," mid-14c. (in reference to the fruit itself), from Old French medler, variant of mesple, from Latin mespila "fruit of the medlar," from Greek mespilion, a foreign word of unknown origin. The Old English name was openærs, literally "open-arse."
logic (n.): mid-14c., "branch of philosophy that treats of forms of thinking," from Old French logique (13c.), from Latin (ars) logica, from Greek logike (techne) "reasoning (art)," from fem. of logikos "pertaining to speaking or reasoning," from logos "reason, idea, word" (see logos). Meaning "logical argumentation" is from c. 1600.
-logy: word-forming element meaning "a speaking, discourse, treatise, doctrine, theory, science," from Greek -logia (often via French -logie or Medieval Latin -logia), from root of legein "to speak;" thus, "the character or deportment of one who speaks or treats of (a certain subject);" see lecture (n.).
thyrsus (n.): 1590s, from Latinized form of Greek thyrsos, literally "stalk or stem of a plant," a non-Greek word of unknown origin. The staff or spear, tipped with an ornament like a pine cone and sometimes wreathed in ivy and vine branches, borne by Dionysus and his votaries.
tine (n.): mid-14c., from Old English tind "spike, beak, prong, tooth of a fork," a general Germanic word (compare Old High German zint "sharp point, spike," Old Norse tindr "tine, point, top, summit," German Zinne "pinnacle"), of unknown origin (see zinc).
anagram (n.): transposition of letters in a word so as to form another, 1580s, from French anagramme or Modern Latin anagramma (16c.), both from Greek anagrammatizein "transpose letters," from ana- "up, back" (see ana-) + gramma (genitive grammatos) "letter" (see -gram). Related: Anagrammatical; anagrammatically.
analogy (n.): 1540s (perhaps early 15c.), from Old French analogie or directly from Latin analogia, from Greek analogia "proportion," from ana- "upon, according to" (see ana-) + logos "ratio," also "word, speech, reckoning" (see logos). A mathematical term used in a wider sense by Plato.
angio-: before verbs angi-, word-forming element now usually meaning "covered or enclosed by a seed or blood vessel," from Latinized form of Greek angeion "a vessel, receptacle," diminutive of angos "chest, box," which is of unknown origin.
bluff (n.1): "broad, vertical cliff," 1680s, from bluff (adj.) "with a broad, flat front" (1620s), a sailors' word, probably from Dutch blaf "flat, broad." Apparently a North Sea nautical term for ships with flat vertical bows, later extended to landscape features.
anon (adv.): late Old English anon, earlier on an, literally "into one," thus "continuously; straightway (in one course), at once;" see one. By gradual misuse, "soon, in a little while" (1520s). A one-word etymological lesson in the enduring power of procrastination.
ante-: word-forming element meaning "before, in front of; previous, existing beforehand; introductory to," from Latin ante (prep. and adv.) "before, in front of, opposite," used in combinations, from PIE *anti "facing opposite, near, in front of, before" (see ante).
megalopolis (n.): 1832, from comb. form of Greek megas (genitive megalou) "great" (see mickle) + polis "city" (see polis). The word was used in classical times as an epithet of great cities (Athens, Syracuse, Alexandria), and it also was the name of a former city in Arcadia.
menopause (n.): 1852 (from 1845 as a French word in English), from French ménopause, from medical Latin menopausis, from Greek men (genitive menos) "month" (see moon (n.)) + pausis "a cessation, a pause," from pauein "to cause to cease" (see pause (n.)). Earlier it was change of life.
perhaps (adv.): 1520s, formed from Middle English per, par "by, through" (see per) + plural of hap "chance" (see happen), on model of peradventure, perchance, etc. which now have been superseded by this word. Perhappons "possibly, by chance" is recorded from late 15c.
peri-: word-forming element meaning "around, about, enclosing," from Greek peri (prep.) "around, about, beyond," cognate with Sanskrit pari "around, about, through," Latin per, from PIE *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per-).
frond (n.): 1785, from Latin frons (genitive frondis) "leafy branch, green bough, foliage." Adopted by Linnæus for the leaf-like organs of ferns, palms, etc., as a word distinct from folium. Later given a more precise meaning in botany.
furlough (n.): 1620s, vorloffe, from Dutch verlof, literally "permission," from Middle Dutch ver- "completely, for" + laf, lof "permission," from Proto-Germanic *laubo- (see leave (v.)). The -gh spelling predominated from 1770s and represents the "f" that had been pronounced at the end of the word but disappeared fairly soon thereafter in English.
groats (n.): "hulled grain coarsely ground or crushed; oatmeal," early 14c., from grot "piece, fragment," from Old English grot "particle," from same root as grit (n.). The word also meant "excrement in pellets" (mid-15c.).
clink (n.2): "prison," 1770s, apparently originally (early 16c.) the Clynke on Clink Street in Southwark, on the estate of the bishops of Winchester. To kiss the clink "to be imprisoned" is from 1580s, and the word and the prison name might be cognate derivatives of the sound made by chains or metal locks (see clink (v.)).
clobber (v.): 1941, British air force slang, probably related to bombing; possibly echoic. Related: Clobbered; clobbering. In late 19c. British slang the word principally had to do with clothing, as in clobber (n.) "clothes," (v.) "to dress smartly;" clobber up "to patch old clothes for reuse."
clothes (n.): Old English claðas "cloths, clothes," originally plural of clað "cloth" (see cloth), which, in 19c., after the sense of "article of clothing" had mostly faded from it, acquired a new plural form, cloths, to distinguish it from this word.
clutch (n.3): "a brood, a nest" in reference to chickens, eggs, 1721, from clekken "to hatch" (c. 1400). Said by OED to be apparently a southern England dialect word. Compare batch/bake. Probably from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse klekja "to hatch"), perhaps of imitative origin (compare cluck (v.)).
bodacious (adj.): 1837 (implied in bodaciously), Southern U.S. slang, perhaps from bodyaciously "bodily, totally," or a blend of bold and audacious, which suits the earliest attested sense of the word. Popularized anew by 1982 Hollywood film "An Officer and a Gentleman."
civilization (n.): 1704, "law which makes a criminal process civil," from civilize + -ation. Sense of "civilized condition" first recorded 1772, probably from French civilisation, to be an opposite to barbarity and a distinct word from civility. Sense of a particular human society in a civilized condition, considered as a whole over time, is from 1857. Related: Civilizational.
clandestine (adj.): 1560s, from Latin clandestinus "secret, hidden," from clam "secretly," from adverbial derivative of base of celare "to hide" (see cell), perhaps on model of intestinus "internal." Related: Clandestinely. As a noun form, there is awkward clandestinity (clandestineness apparently being a dictionary word).
gynecology (n.): also gynaecology, "science of women's health and of the diseases peculiar to women," 1847, from French gynécologie, from Latinized form of Greek gynaiko-, comb. form of gyne "woman, female," from PIE *gwen- "woman" (see queen). Second element is from French -logie "study of," from Greek (see -logy). Another word for it was gyniatrics.
hoodlum (n.): popularized 1871, American English, (identified throughout the 1870s as "a California word") "young street rowdy, loafer," especially one involved in violence against Chinese immigrants, "young criminal, gangster;" it appears to have been in use locally from a slightly earlier date and may have begun as a specific name of a gang:
The police have recently been investigating the proceedings of a gang of thieving boys who denominate themselves and are known to the world as the Hoodlum Gang. [San Francisco "Golden Era" newspaper, Feb. 16, 1868, p.4]
Of unknown origin, though newspapers of the day printed myriad fanciful stories concocted to account for it. A guess perhaps better than average is that it is from German dialectal (Bavarian) Huddellump "ragamuffin" [Barnhart].
What the derivation of the word "hoodlum" is we could never satisfactorily ascertain, though several derivations have been proposed; and it would appear that the word has not been very many years in use. But, however obscure the word may be, there is nothing mysterious about the thing; .... [Walter M. Fisher, "The Californians," London, 1876]
hop (n.2): "opium," 1887, from Cantonese nga-pin (pronounced HAH-peen) "opium," a Chinese folk etymology of the English word opium, literally "crow peelings." Re-folk-etymologized back into English by association with hop (n.1).
hopped (adj.): a word that seems to merge three senses of hop; the meaning "flavored with hops" (hop (n.1)) is first attested 1660s; that of "under the influence of drugs" (hop (n.2)) is from 1924; that of "excited, enthusiastic" (perhaps from hop (v.)) is from 1923. Meaning "performance-enhanced" (of an engine, etc.) is from 1945.
hotel (n.): 1640s, "public official residence; large private residence," from French hôtel "a mansion, palace, large house," from Old French ostel, hostel "a lodging" (see hostel). Modern sense of "an inn of the better sort" is first recorded 1765. The same word as hospital.
how (interj.): Native American greeting, Siouxan (Dakota hao, Omaha hau), first recorded 1817 in English. But according to OED, the same word was noted early 17c. by French missionary Jean de Brebeuf among Hurons as an expression of approval (1636).
howitzer (n.): 1690s, hauwitzer, 1680s howitts, via Dutch houwitser (1660s), an extended borrowing of German Haubitze, from Bohemian houfnice "a catapult," from houf "heap, crowd," a loan-word from Middle High German hufe "heap." Introduced to German during the Hussite wars, 14c.
doff (v.): mid-14c., contraction of do off, preserving the original sense of do as "put." At the time of Johnson's Dictionary [1755] the word was "obsolete, and rarely used except by rustics," but it was saved from extinction (along with don) by Sir Walter Scott. Related: Doffed; doffing.
dogma (n.): c. 1600 (in plural dogmata), from Latin dogma "philosophical tenet," from Greek dogma (genitive dogmatos) "opinion, tenet," literally "that which one thinks is true," from dokein "to seem good, think" (see decent). Treated in 17c.-18c. as a Greek word in English.
downbeat: 1876 (n.), in reference to downward stroke of a conductor's baton; 1952 (adj.) in figurative sense of "pessimistic," but that is probably via associations of the word down (adv.), because the beat itself is no more pessimistic than the upbeat is optimistic.
thole (n.): "peg," from Old English þoll "oar-pin," from Proto-Germanic *thulnaz (source also of Old Norse þollr, Middle Low German dolle, East Frisian dolle, Dutch dol), of unknown origin. No record of the word in English from c. 1000 to mid-15c.