Discover where words come from.
Type any word and explore its roots, language path, word parts, related words, and meaning shifts. Etymology turns vocabulary into a small window on language history.
Live lookup
Trace a word through history
See the original form, first meaning, and the path a word travelled through languages.
See it in action
Word history that looks as good as it reads.
Discover origins, follow meaning changes, and explore the vocabulary connected to every word.
See where a word begins
Start with the original form, language, and meaning that shaped a word.
Follow the language journey
Watch meanings move across languages and centuries in a clear timeline.
Find the words it connects to
Explore cognates, word parts, relatives, and surprising vocabulary links.
Make discovery a daily habit
Keep a small, memorable word discovery waiting whenever you open the app.
Start with a familiar word.
Read a curated history, then follow its language path to related words and ideas.
salary
The origin of salary reaches back to Latin salarium, a payment term associated with salt and shaped by an old Roman world of work.
robot
Robot began with a Czech word for forced labor before becoming the name for a machine that works on its own.
serendipity
Serendipity was coined for the joy of finding something valuable or delightful by accident.
clue
Clue began as clew, a ball of thread, then became a guide through a puzzle and finally a hint toward an answer.
paradise
Paradise began as the concrete image of a walled garden before becoming a word for an ideal place.
muscle
Muscle comes from a Latin word meaning little mouse, a vivid metaphor for movement beneath the skin.
Common questions
Do I need an account?
No. The web tool works without an account. In the app, favorites, history, and previously cached results also work without signing in.
Can I use it offline?
The web tool needs a connection. In the app, words you already opened can remain available from local history.
How is my data handled?
Read our first-party privacy and data-deletion pages for lookup, diagnostics, advertising, and local-storage details.
Designed for understanding
Built for curious reading, not dictionary overload.
Etymology focuses on the parts of word history that make vocabulary stick: roots, movement between languages, changes in meaning, and useful related terms.
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Trace word origins through roots, language paths, and meaning shifts
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Word parts and related words for deeper vocabulary connections
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Word of the Day with historical context and clear explanations
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Favorites and search history to build your own word library
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Offline viewing for words you have already looked up
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Clean reading experience with dark mode and dynamic type
Learn the stories behind everyday words.
Short guides for roots, loanwords, phrases, and language history.
How English Borrows from Every Language It Meets
A clear tour of loanwords from Arabic, Nahuatl, Japanese, Hindi, West African languages, and more.
Latin Words You Already Know: How Rome Shaped English
Everyday English still carries Latin roots from law, school, science, work, and daily life.
The Etymology of Color Words: How We Named What We See
From black and white to purple, orange, and pink, color names preserve trade, nature, and culture.
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Turn every unfamiliar word into a memorable story.
Download Etymology and start building a richer vocabulary from roots and history.