Online Etymology Dictionary

heebie-jeebies: 1923, said to have been coined by U.S. cartoonist Billy De Beck (1890-1942), creator of "Barney Google."
heed: O.E. hedan "to take care, attend," from W.Gmc. *hodjan (cf. OS. hodian, O.Fris. hoda, Ger. hüten "to guard, watch"). Survives only in lit. use and as the object of verbs (take heed, etc.). Probably related to O.E. hod "hood" through a sense of "guard." Heedless "without regard" is from 1579.
heel (n.): O.E. hela, from P.Gmc. *khangkh- (cf. O.N. hæll, O.Fris. hel, Du. hiel), related to O.E. hoh "hock." Heeled "provided with money" is 1880 in Amer.Eng., from earlier sense "furnished with a gun, armed" (1866), from still earlier sense "furnish (a gamecock) with a heel-like spur" (1562). To heel (of a dog) is from 1810. Heeler "unscrupulous political lackey" is U.S. slang, 1877, from the notion of one who follows at the heels of a political boss, no doubt coined with the image of a dog in mind. Achilles' heel "only vulnerable spot" is from 1810. Heel-tap was originally (1688) one of the bits of leather that are stacked up to make a shoe heel; meaning "bit of liquor left in a glass or bottle" first recorded 1688; the exact connection is uncertain. Down at heels (1732) refers to heels of boots or shoes worn down and the owner too poor to replace them.
heel (v.): of a ship, O.E. hyldan "incline," from P.Gmc. *khelthijanan (cf. M.Du. helden "to lean," O.N. hallr "inclined," Ger. halde "slope, declivity"). Re-spelled 16c. from M.E. hield, probably by misinterpretation of -d as a pt. suffix.
heel (n.): "contemptible person," 1914 in U.S. underworld slang, originally "incompetent or worthless criminal," probably from a sense of "person in the lowest position."
heft: c.1445, "weight, heaviness," from heave on analogy of thieve/thief, weave/weft, etc.; also infl. by heft, obsolete pp. of heave. The verb meaning "to lift" is first recorded c.1661. Hefty is from 1867.
hegemony: 1567, from Gk. hegemonia "leadership," from hegemon "leader," from hegeisthai "to lead." Originally of predominance of one city state or another in Gk. history.
hegira: 1590, the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina (July 16, 622 C.E.), from which event the Islamic calendar reckons. From Arabic hijrah "departure," from hajara "to depart."
heifer: O.E. heahfore, of unknown origin, not found outside Eng. The first element seems to be heah "high," common in O.E. compounds with a sense of "great in size." The second element may be related to O.E. fearr "bull," or to O.E. faran "to go" (giving the whole a sense of "high-stepper"); but there are serious sense difficulties with both conjectures. In modern use, "a female that has not yet calved," as opposed to a cow, which has calved, and a calf, which is an animal of either sex not more than a year old. As derisive slang for "a woman, girl" it dates from 1835.
heigh-ho: 1553, exclamation to express yawning, sighing, etc.
height: O.E. hiehþu, Anglian hehþo "highest part or point, summit," from root of heah "high" + -itha Gmc. abstract noun suffix (cf. O.N. hæð, O.H.G. hohida, Goth. hauhiþa "height"). The modern pronunciation with -t not established till 18c., and heighth is still colloquial.
Heinie: "a German," especially a Ger. soldier," 1904, N.Amer. slang, from pet form of common Ger. male proper name Heinrich (see Henry). Brought to Europe in World War I by Canadian soldiers (British soldiers called the adversary Fritz).
heinie: slang for "the buttocks," by 1930s, probably a contraction of hind end.
heinous: late 14c., from O.Fr. haineus (Fr. haineux), from haine "hatred," from hair "to hate," from Frankish *hatjan (cf. O.S. haton, O.E. hatian "to hate").
heir: late 13c., from Anglo-Fr. heir, from O.Fr. hair, from L. heres (gen. heredis) "heir, heiress" (see heredity). Heir apparent (late 14c.) has the French order of noun-adj., though it was not originally so in English. It is the heir of one still alive whose right is clear. After death the heir apparent becomes the heir-at-law.
heirloom: 1472, ayre lome, from heir (q.v.) + loom in its original but now otherwise obsolete sense of "implement, tool." Technically, some piece of property that by will or custom passes down with the real estate.
Heisenberg: in ref. to Ger. physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), pioneer of quantum mechanics. His "uncertainty principle" (deduced in 1927) is that an electron may have a determinate position, or a determinate velocity, but not both.
heist: 1927 (in heister "shoplifter, thief"), Amer.Eng. slang, probably dialectal alt. of hoist "lift," in sense of "shoplift," also in older British slang "to lift another on one's shoulders to help him break in."
held: p.t. of hold (q.v.).
Helen: fem. proper name, from Fr. Hélène, from L. Helena, from Gk. Helene, fem. proper name, probably fem. of helenos "the bright one." Among the top 10 popular names for girl babies in the U.S. born between 1890 and 1934.
heliacal: "pertaining to the sun," 1607, from Gk. heliakos "of the sun," from helios "sun" (see sol). The heliacal year is reckoned from the heliacal rising of Sirius; it is also known as the canicular year.
Helicon: 1529, from Gk. Helikon, mountain in Boeotia, sacred to the Muses, in which arose the fountains of Aganippe and Hippocrene. Lit. "the tortuous mountain," from helix (gen. helikos) "spiral" (see helix).
helicopter: 1861, from Fr. hélicoptère "device for enabling airplanes to rise perpendicularly," thus "flying machine propelled by screws." The idea was to gain lift from spiral aerofoils, and it didn't work. Used by Jules Verne and the Wright Brothers, the word transferred to helicopters in the modern sense when those were developed, 1920s. From Gk. helix (gen. helikos) "spiral" (see helix) + pteron "wing" (see petition). Nativized in Flemish as wentelwiek "with rotary vanes." Heliport is attested from 1948, with second element abstracted from airport.
heliotrope: "plant which turns its flowers and leaves to the sun," c.1626, from Fr. heliotrope, from L. heliotropium, from Gk. heliotropion, from helios "sun" (see sol) + tropos "turn" (see trope). The word was applied c.1000-1600 in L. form to sunflowers and marigolds.
helium: 1868, coined from Gk. helios "sun" (see sol), because the element was observed in the solar spectrum during the eclipse of Aug. 18, 1868, by Eng. astronomer Sir Joseph N. Lockyer (1836-1920) and Eng. chemist Sir Edward Frankland (1825-99). It was not actually obtained until 1895.
helix: 1563, from L. helix "spiral," from Gk. helix (gen. helikos), related to eilein "to turn, twist, roll," from PIE base *wel- "to turn, revolve" (see vulva).
hell: O.E. hel, helle "nether world, abode of the dead, infernal regions," from P.Gmc. *khaljo (cf. O.Fris. helle, O.N. hel, Ger. Hölle, Goth. halja "hell") "the underworld," lit. "concealed place," from PIE *kel- "to cover, conceal, save" (see cell). The Eng. word may be in part from O.N. Hel (from P.Gmc. *khalija "one who covers up or hides something"), in Norse mythology Loki's daughter, who rules over the evil dead in Niflheim, the lowest of all worlds (nifl "mist"), a death aspect of the three-fold goddess. Transfer of a pagan concept and word to a Christian idiom, used in the K.J.V. for O.T. Heb. Sheol, N.T. Gk. Hades, Gehenna. Used figuratively for "any bad experience" since at least 1374. As an expression of disgust, etc., first recorded 1678. Hell-bent is from 1835. Hell-raiser is from 1914 (to raise hell is from 1896); hellacious is 1930s college slang. Expression Hell in a handbasket is c.1941, perhaps a revision of earlier heaven in a handbasket (c.1913), with a sense of "easy passage" to whichever destination. Expression hell of a _____ is attested from 1776. Hell or high water is apparently a variation of between the devil and the deep blue sea. To wish someone would go to hell is in Shakespeare (1596). Snowball's chance in hell "no chance" is from 1931; till hell freezes over "never" is from 1919. To ride hell for leather is from 1889, originally with reference to riding on horseback. Hell on wheels is from 1843.
Hell's Angels: motorcycle club, first attested 1957. They were called Black Rebels in the 1954 film "The Wild One." Earlier the phrase had been used as the title of a film about World War I air combat (1930).
hellcat: "volatile woman," 1605, from hell + cat.
hellebore: 1373, from O.Fr. ellebore, from L. elleborus, from Gk. helleboros, probably meaning "plant eaten by fawns," from Gk. ellos/hellos "fawn" + bora "food of beasts." Among the ancients, the name given to various plants of both poisonous and medicinal qualities, reputed to cure madness.
Hellenic: 1644, from Gk. Hellenikos, from Hellen "a Greek," first used by Homer in ref. to a Thessalian tribe. Hellenistic (1874) refers to Gk. culture after Alexander; the term Hellenism in this sense was coined 1836 by Ger. historian Johann Gustav Droysen (1808-84).
hellfire: condensed from O.E. helle fyr, in which helle is the genitive case of hell. It translates Gk. gehenna tou pyros, lit. "fiery hell."
hellhole: "unpleasant place," 1866, from hell + hole.
hellion: 1846, Amer.Eng., alt. (by association with Hell) from Scot./northern England dial. hallion "worthless fellow, scamp" (1786), of unknown origin.
hello: 1883, alt. of hallo (1840), itself an alt. of holla, hollo, a shout to attract attention, first recorded 1588. Perhaps from holla! "stop, cease." Popularity as a greeting coincides with use of the telephone, where it won out over Alexander Graham Bell's suggestion, ahoy. Central telephone exchange operators were known as hello-girls (1889).
"Hello, formerly an Americanism, is now nearly as common as hullo in Britain (Say who you are; do not just say 'hello' is the warning given in our telephone directories) and the Englishman cannot be expected to give up the right to say hello if he likes it better than his native hullo. [H.W. Fowler, "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage," 1926]
helm: "tiller," from O.E. helma "position of guidance, control," from P.Gmc. *khelman- (cf. O.N. hjalm, N.H.G. helm "handle").
helmet: 1470, from M.Fr. helmet, dim. of helme "helmet," from Frank. *helm (cf O.H.G. helm "helmet"), from P.Gmc. *khelmaz, from PIE *kel- "to cover, to hide" (see cell). O.E. had helm, but it never was an active word.
helot: 1579, from Gk. Heilotes, pl. of Heilos, popularly assoc. with Helos, Laconian town reduced to serfdom by Sparta, but perhaps related to Gk. halonai "be captured."
help: O.E. helpan (class III strong verb; past tense healp, pp. holpen), from P.Gmc. *khelpanan (cf. O.N. hjalpa, O.Fris. helpa, Du. helpen, Ger. helfen), from PIE base *kelb-/*kelp- "to help" (cf. Lith. selpiu "to support, help"). Sense of "serve someone with food at table" (1688) is translated from Fr. servir "to help, stead, avail," and led to helping "portion of food" (1824). Use of help as euphemism for "servant" is Amer.Eng., 1645, tied up in notions of class and race.
"A domestic servant of American birth, and without negro blood in his or her veins ... is not a servant, but a 'help.' 'Help wanted,' is the common heading of advertisements in the North, when servants are required." [Chas. Mackay, "Life and Liberty in America," 1859].
The M.E. pp. holpen survives in biblical and U.S. dial. use.
helpmate: "companion," 1715, a ghost word, altered from helpmeet, from the Biblical translation of L. adjutorium simile sibi [Gen. ii.18] as "an help meet (i.e. fit) for him" (Heb. 'ezer keneghdo), which was already by 1673 being printed as help-meet and mistaken for one word.
helter-skelter: 1593, perhaps from skelte "to hasten, scatter hurriedly," with the first element merely for rhyme.
helve: O.E. helfe "handle of an axe," from P.Gmc. *halbi- (cf. O.S. helvi, M.Du. helf, O.H.G. halb "handle of an axe," O.H.G. helmo "tiller"); related to halter.
Helvetian: "Swiss," 1559, from Helvetia terra, M.L. name of Switzerland, from L. Helvetius "pertaining to the Helvetii," a Celtic people of ancient Gallia Lugdunensis.
hem (n.): O.E. hem "a border," from P.Gmc. *khamjanan (cf. O.N. hemja "to bridle, curb," O.Fris. hemma "to hinder," M.Du., Ger. hemmen "to hem in, stop, hinder"), from the same root that yielded hamper and O.E. hamm, common in place names (where it means "enclosure, land hemmed in by water or high ground, land in a river bend"). The phrase hem in "shut in, confine," first recorded 1538. Hem-line first attested 1923.
hem (interj.): 1470, probably imitative of the sound of clearing the throat. Hem and haw first recorded 1786, from haw "hesitation," first recorded 1632.
hematite: 1543, from M.Fr. hematite, from L. hæmatites, from Gk. haimatites lithos "bloodlike stone," from haima (gen. haimatos) "blood" (see -emia).
hemi-: prefix meaning "half," from Gk. hemi-, from PIE base *semi-, which is the source of Skt. sami, L. semi-, O.H.G. sami- "half," and O.E. sam- (see sandblind).
hemisphere: late 14c., from L. hemisphærium, from Gk. hemisphairion, from hemi- "half" + sphaira "sphere."
hemistich: "half a poetic line," 1575, from M.Fr. hémistiche, from L. hemistichium, from Gk. hemistichion "half-line, half-verse," from hemi- "half" + stichos "row, line of verse."
hemlock: O.E. (Kentish) hemlic, earlier hymlice, hymblice, of unknown origin.