Etymology Dictionary — Discover the Origin of Any Word
Type any English word to trace its history — the chain of languages it passed through, from Proto-Indo-European roots to today. Sourced live from Wiktionary, free, no sign-up. Etymology Dictionary is an LK Forge tool.
How to use the etymology dictionary
Type an English word and select Trace Origin. The tool reads the word's entry on Wiktionary, pulls its etymology, and lays out the origin as a chain of ancestor languages — newest on the right, oldest root on the left. Where a word has more than one origin story, each is shown in turn. Use the base form of a word (for example run rather than running) for the fullest history.
How to read a word's origin chain
Most English words are borrowed or inherited, passing through several languages before reaching modern English. A typical chain runs from a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root, through Ancient Greek or Latin, into Old English or Old French, then Middle English, and finally today's spelling. Each link in the chain names the language and the earlier form of the word, so you can see exactly how meaning and spelling shifted over time.
A worked example: school
Trace school and the chain reads back through Old English scōl, which was borrowed from Latin schola, which had itself been taken from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholē). The Greek word meant leisure — spare time, and then the lectures and discussions people filled it with — which is how a word for free time ended up naming the place you are sent to study. That kind of drift is the norm rather than the exception: the chain shows you the form at each step, and the meaning at the far end is often nothing like the modern one. Reading a chain is therefore two jobs at once — following the spelling backwards, and noticing where the sense changed.
When a word returns no origin
Not every word has a history to show. The entries come from Wiktionary, so the tool is only as complete as the entry: rare, recent and technical coinages often have no recorded etymology, and proper nouns, abbreviations and brand names usually have none either. Inflected forms are normally documented under their base word, so ran and running both give their fullest history under run. If a lookup comes back empty, check the spelling, try the base form, or use the definition lookup or thesaurus instead.