etymology

Meaning

Noun

• The study of the historical development of languages, particularly as manifested in individual words.
• The origin and historical development of a word; the derivation.
• An account of the origin and historical development of a word as presented in a dictionary or the like.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• onomastics

Origin

• From Middle English ethymologie, from Old French ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Ancient Greek ἐτυμολογία, from ἔτυμον and -λογία, from λόγος.