Online Etymology Dictionary

capias (n.): writ of arrest issued by a court, mid-15c., from Latin capias, literally "thou mayest take," typical first word of such a writ; properly 2nd person singular present subjunctive of capere "to catch, seize, hold" (see capable).
brady-: medical word-forming element meaning "slow, delayed, tardy," from Greek bradys "slow;" as in bradycardia (1890), with Latinized form of Greek kardia "heart;" bradykinesia, "slow movement," with Greek kinesis "movement, motion;" bradypnea, with Greek pneo/pnein "to breathe."
brainiac (n.): "very smart person," 1982, U.S. slang, from brain (n.) + ending from ENIAC, etc. Brainiac also was the name of a comic book villain in the Superman series and a do-it-yourself computer building kit, both from the late 1950s, and the word may bear traces of either or both of these.
brewery (n.): 1650s (but perhaps from c. 1200 as a surname element), from brew (v.) + -ery. Old English had breawern in this sense (from aern "house;" see barn), and brewhouse was the more common word through 18c.
brite: variant of bright (adj.). It figures in English phonetic spelling reform from at least the late 19c.; as an advertiser's word it dates from at least 1905 ("Star-brite Metal Polish," made by the Star-Brite Company of Lancaster, Pa., U.S.).
broaden (v.): 1727, from broad (adj.) + -en (1). The word seems no older than this date (discovered by Johnson in one of James Thomson's "Seasons" poems); broadened also is first found in the same poet, and past participle adjective broadening is recorded from 1850.
bursa (n.): by 1788 as an English word in physiology, shortened from medieval Latin bursa mucosa "mucus pouch," from Medieval Latin bursa "bag, purse," from Late Latin bursa, variant of byrsa "hide," from Greek byrsa "hide, skin, wineskin, drum," which is of unknown origin; compare purse (n.).
busking (n.): 1851, slang, described variously as selling articles or obscene ballads in public houses, playing music on the streets, or performing as a sort of informal stand-up comedy act in pubs, perhaps from an earlier word meaning "to cruise as a pirate" (see busker).
blockade (n.): mid-17c., from block (v.) + -ade, false French ending (the French word is blocus, 18c. in this sense, which seems to be in part a back-formation from the verb bloquer and in part influenced by Middle Dutch blokhuus "blockhouse").
blowhard (n.): also blow-hard, 1840, a sailor's word (from 1790 as a nickname for a sailor), perhaps not originally primarily meaning "braggart;" from blow (v.1) + hard (adv.). An adjective sense of "boastful" appeared c. 1855, and may be a separate formation leading to a modified noun use.
bookkeeper (n.): also book-keeper, 1550s, from book (n.) + keeper. A rare English word with three consecutive double letters. Related: Bookkeeping, which is from 1680s in the sense "the work of keeping account books;" book-keep (v.) is a back-formation from 1886.
trist (adj.): "sorrowful," early 15c., from French triste "sad, sadness" (10c.), from Latin tristis "sad, mournful, sorrowful, gloomy." Re-borrowed late 18c. (as "dull, uninteresting") as a French word in English and often spelled triste.
Tibet: said to be a corruption in Chinese or Arabic of Bod, indigenous name, of unknown origin. As an adjective in English, Tibetian is older (1747) but Tibetan (1822) is now the usual word. With comb. form Tibeto-.
wallah (n.): also walla, "person employed (in some specified business)," Anglo-Indian, from Hindi -wala, suffix forming adjectives with the sense "pertaining to, connected with;" the functional equivalent of English -er (1). Europeans took it to mean "man, fellow" and began using it as a word.
wasteland (n.): 1825 as one word, from waste (adj.) + land (n.). Figurative sense is attested from 1868. Eliot's poem is from 1922.
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
-ar: word-formation element meaning "pertaining to, of the nature of," from Latin -arem, -aris "of the kind of, belonging to," a secondary form of -alis, dissimilated form used after syllables with an -l- (such as insularis for *insulalis, stellaris for *stellalis).
westernization (n.): also westernisation, 1873, noun of action from westernize (v.). Earliest reference is to Japan.
[The mikado's] late rapid and radical progress in westernization (to evolve a word that the Japanese will need) justifies great expectations of him. [Coates Kinney, "Japanning the English Language," "The Galaxy," July-Dec. 1873]
forger (n.): late 14c. (early 14c. as a surname), "a maker, a smith," agent noun from forge (v.). Meaning "a counterfeiter, one who makes by false imitation" is from early 15c. In 15c. also "a maker of (coin) money." Another Middle English word for "a forger" was falsarie (mid-15c.).
genitalia (n.): "the genital organs," 1876, Modern Latin, from Latin genitalia (membra), neuter plural of genitalis "genital, pertaining to generation or birth" (see genital). The Latin word also yielded, with change of suffix, French génitoires (12c.), hence Middle English and early Modern English genitors "genitals."
glyco-: before vowels glyc-, word-forming element meaning "sweet," from Latinized comb. form of Greek glykys, glykeros "sweet" (see gluco-). Used in reference to sugars generally. OED says a regular formation would be glycy-.
actino-: before vowels actin-, word-forming element meaning "pertaining to rays," from Greek aktis (genitive aktinos) "ray, radiance;" perhaps cognate with Sanskrit aktuh "light, ray," Gothic uhtwo "dawn, daybreak," Lithuanian anksti "early."
-geny: word-forming element meaning "genesis, origin, mode of production," forming corresponding abstract nouns to words in -gen, from French -génie and Modern Latin -genia, from Greek -geneia, from -genes "born, produced," the form in compounds of genos (see genus).
Algonquian: also Algonkian, 1885, an ethnologist's word, modified from Algonquin + -ian. Both forms of the name have been used as adjectives and nouns. An American-Indian language family spread over a wide area of northeast and north-central North America, from Nova Scotia (Micmac) to Montana (Cheyenne).
Nephilim: of uncertain etymology; much disputed.
The only obvious meaning of this Hebrew term is "fallen ones" -- perhaps, those who have come down from the realm of the gods; but then the word might conceivably reflect an entirely different, un-Hebraic background. [Robert Alter, "The Five Books of Moses," 2004]
heckle (n.): "flax comb," c. 1300, hechel, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *hecel or a cognate Germanic word, from Proto-Germanic *hakila- (source also of Middle High German hechel, Middle Dutch hekel), from PIE *keg- "hook, tooth" (see hook (n.)).
head (v.): "to be at the head or in the lead," c. 1200, from head (n.). Meaning "to direct the head (toward)" is from c. 1600. Related: headed, heading. The earliest use of the word as a verb meant "behead" (Old English heafdian). Verbal phrase head up "supervise, direct" is attested by 1930.
histo-: medical word-forming element, from Greek histos "warp, web," literally "anything set upright," from histasthai "to stand," from PIE *stā- "to stand" (see stet). Taken by 19c. medical writers as the best Greek root from which to form terminology for "tissue, structural element of the animal body."
hyperdrive (n.): by 1951, an invented word used by science fiction writers to describe anything that can power a space craft faster than the speed of light, contra Einstein. From drive (n.) with the first element perhaps abstracted from hyperspace.
-ina: fem. word- and name-forming element, from Latin -ina (see -ine (1)), or its identical descendants in Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian. The French form is -ine. As a suffix in royal titles (czarina, etc.) it represents an extension from Latin regina.
iconoclasm (n.): 1797 in reference to an act of breaking or destroying idols physically; figuratively from 1858 in reference to beliefs, cherished institutions, etc.; see iconoclast. An older word for it was iconomachy (1580s), from Greek eikonomakhia (see -machy).
Ida: fem. proper name, Medieval Latin, from Old High German Ida, which is perhaps related to Old Norse ið "work." As the name of a mountain near Troy and one in Crete, it probably is a different word, of unknown or non-IE origin; related: Idaean.
-ier: word-forming element indicating "one whose occupation has to do with," from French and Old French -ier, from Latin -arius (see -ary). Nativized and used to form English words (glazier, hosier, etc.) Also see -yer, and compare -eer.
-ile: also -il, word-forming element denoting ability or capacity, from Old French -il or directly from Latin adjectival suffix -ilis. Used in classical and Medieval Latin to form ordinal numbers, which accounts for its use from late 19c. in statistics (percentile, etc.).
high (n.2): "thought, understanding," Old English hyge, cognate with Old Saxon hugi, Old High German hugi, Old Norse hygr, Swedish hög, Danish hu. Obsolete from 13c. in English and also lost in Modern German, but formerly an important Germanic word.
homeo-: also homoeo-, word-forming element meaning "similar to," Latinized from Greek homio-, from homoios "like, resembling, of the same kind; equal," related to or an expanded form of homos "one and the same," from PIE *sem- (1) "one, as one" (see same).
haplo-: before vowels hapl-, word-forming element meaning "simple, single; simply, once," from comb. form of Greek haploos, haplous "single, simple" (as opposed to "compound"); "natural, plain," from PIE compound *sm-plo-, from *sem- (1) "one; as one; together with" (see same) + *-plo- "-fold."
choad (n.): also chode, "penis," c. 1968, U.S. teen slang, of unknown origin. Guesses include supposed Navajo chodis "penis" ["Cassell's Dictionary of Slang" 2005], or a supposed Hindi, Bengali or Gujarati vernacular word for "copulate" ["New Hacker's Dictionary," 1996].
asquint (adv.): early 13c., "obliquely, with a sidelong glance," of uncertain etymology; from a- (1) + "a word corresponding to Du. schuinte 'slope, slant' of the independent use of which no instances survive ..." [OED]. "Middle English Dictionary" compares French équinter "cut to a point;" French dialectal (e)squintar "cast a glance, look furtively."
heterophemy (n.): "the (unintentional) use of some other word or phrase in place of the one that was meant," 1875 (Grant White), from hetero- "other, different" + Greek pheme "utterance," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)).
genotype (n.): "genetic constitution of an individual," 1910, from German Genotypus (Wilhelm Johannsen, 1909); see gene + type (n.). Earlier the same word was used with a sense of "type-species of a genus" (1897); in this case, the first element is from genus.
hostile (adj.): late 15c., from Middle French hostile "of or belonging to an enemy" (15c.) or directly from Latin hostilis "of an enemy, belonging to or characteristic of the enemy; inimical," from hostis "enemy" (see guest (n.)). The noun meaning "hostile person" is recorded from 1838, American English, a word from the Indian wars. Related: Hostilely.
functionary (n.): "one who has a certain function, one who holds an office," 1791, from or patterned on French fonctionnaire, a word of the Revolution; from fonction (see function (n.)). As an adjective in English from 1822, "functional." Related: Functionarism.
fungible (adj.): "capable of being used in place of another; capable of being replaced," 1818, a word in law originally, from Medieval Latin fungibilis, from Latin fungi "perform" (see function (n.)) via phrases such as fungi vice "to take the place." Earlier as a noun (1765).
irrelevant (adj.): 1680s, from assimilated form of in- (1) "not, opposite of" + relevant. Related: Irrelevantly.
It is worth remembering that irrelevant & relieving are the same word; that, presumably, is irrelevant which does not relieve or assist the problem in hand by throwing any light upon it. [Fowler]
dispensation (n.): late 14c., from Old French despensacion (12c., Modern French dispensation), or directly from Latin dispensationem (nominative dispensatio) "management, charge," noun of action from past participle stem of dispensare "disburse, administer, distribute (by weight)" (see dispense). Theological sense is from the use of the word to translate Greek oikonomoia "office, method of administration."
beefcake (n.): by 1952, "display of male pulchritude" in movies or magazines; said to have been modeled on cheesecake, but there seems to have been an actual foodstuff called beefcake around this time. The word seems to be little used in that literal sense since the other sense emerged.
provocative (adj.): mid-15c., "eliciting," from Middle French provocatif (15c.) and directly from Late Latin provocativus "calling forth," from provocat-, past participle stem of Latin provocare (see provoke). Specifically of sexual desire from 1620s. Related: Provocatively; provocativeness. The earliest appearance of the word in English is as a noun meaning "an aphrodisiac" (early 15c.).
labrum (n.): lip or lip-like part, 1816, in various anatomical and zoological uses, from Latin labrum "a lip," cognate with labium "lip" (see lip (n.)). The same word is also noted in Middle English as the name of some herb.
nevertheless (adv.): c. 1300, neuer þe lesse; as one word from early 14c., neuerþeles. The sense of never here is "not at all; none the," as in unmerged expressions such as never the wiser, never the worse. Middle English also had neverthelater in same sense.
-ous: word-forming element making adjectives from nouns, meaning "having, full of, having to do with, doing, inclined to," from Old French -ous, -eux, from Latin -osus (compare -ose (1)). In chemistry, "having a lower valence than forms expressed in -ic."