Online Etymology Dictionary

-kin: dim. suffix, first attested c.1250 in proper names adopted from Flanders and Holland, probably from M.Du. -kin, properly a double-dim., from -k + -in. Equivalent to Ger. -chen.
K: "one thousand dollars," 1970s, from kilo-. As an indication of "strikeout" in baseball scorekeeping, first recorded c.1880, said to be from last letter of struck, since first letter was already being used as abbreviation for sacrifice. The invention of the scorecard symbols is attributed to newspaperman Henry Chadwick. K as a measure of capacity (esp. in computer memory) or number (esp. of salary), meaning "one thousand" is an abbrev. of kilo (q.v.).
Kaaba: 1734 (Caaba), cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque of Mecca, containing the Black Stone, from Arabic ka'bah "square house," from ka'b "cube."
kabuki: 1899, from Japanese, popular theater (as opposed to shadow puppet-plays or lyrical Noh dramas), lit. "art of song and dance," from ka "song" + bu "dance" + ki "art." Alternative etymology (in Webster's) is from nominal form of kabuku "to be divergent, to deviate," from early opinion of this form of drama. Since c.1650, all parts are played by males.
Kaddish: "doxology of the Jewish ritual," 1613, from Aramaic qaddish "holy, holy one," from stem of q'dhash "was holy," ithqaddash "was sanctified," related to Heb. qadhash "was holy," qadhosh "holy." According to Kline, the name probably is from the second word of the text veyithqaddash "and sanctified be."
kaffeeklatsch: "gossip over cups of coffee," 1888, from Ger., from kaffee "coffee" + klatsch "gossip" (see klatsch).
kaffir: 1790, from Arabic qafir "unbeliever, infidel, impious wretch," with a lit. sense of "one who does not admit the blessings of God," from kafara "to cover up, conceal, deny." Technically, "non-Muslim," but in Ottoman times it came to be used almost exclusively for "Christian." Early Eng. missionaries used it as an equivalent of "heathen" to refer to Bantus in South Africa (1792), from which use it came generally to mean "South African black" regardless of ethnicity, and to be a term of abuse since at least 1934.
Kafkaesque: 1947, resembling situations from the writings of Franz Kafka (1883-1924), German-speaking Jewish novelist born in Prague, Austria-Hungary.
kahuna: 1886, "Hawaiian priest or minister, expert or wise man," from Hawaiian, where it was applied to priests, doctors, sorcerers, and navigators. In surfer slang, for "a god of surfing," it is attested from 1962 (but big kahuna in same sense is said to date from 1950s).
kaiser: "an emperor," O.E. casere, obscure after M.E., but revived 1858 in ref. to the Ger. emperors of Austria and, after 1870, Germany, from Ger. Kaiser, from Bavarian and Austrian spelling of M.H.G. keisar, from O.H.G. keisar "emperor," an early borrowing of L. cognomen Cæsar (q.v.). The Gmc. and Slavic peoples seem to have called all Roman emperors "caesar" (cf. O.E. casere, O.N. keisari). Said to be the earliest L. loan word in Gmc.
kakistocracy: 1829, "government by the worst element of a society," coined on analogy of aristocracy from Gk. kakistos "worst," superl. of kakos "bad" (which is perhaps related to the general IE word for "defecate") + -kratia "rule of," from kratos "strength, power, rule" (see -cracy).
Kalashnikov: "type of rifle or submachine gun made in the U.S.S.R.," 1970, from Rus. Kalashnikov, weapon developed in Soviet Union c.1946 and named for Mikhail Kalashnikov, gun designer and part of the team that built it. In AK-47, the AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikov.
kale: c.1300, M.E. cawul, surviving as a Scottish variant of cole "cabbage" (see cole-slaw). Slang meaning "money" is from 1902.
kaleidoscope: 1817, lit. "observer of beautiful forms," coined by its inventor, Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), from Gk. kalos "beautiful" + eidos "shape" (see -oid) + -scope, on model of telescope, etc. Figurative meaning "constantly changing pattern" is first attested 1819 in Lord Byron, whose publisher had sent him one.
Kali: a name of Devi, the Hindu mother-goddess, in her death-goddess aspect, 1798, from Skt. kali, lit. "the black one," fem. of kalah "blue-black, black," from a Dravidian language. Also taken as the fem. of kala "time" (as destroyer). She is portrayed as black-skinned, blood-smeared, and wearing a necklace of skulls and a girdle of snakes.
Kama Sutra: 1883, from Skt. Kama Sutra, ancient treatise on love and sexual performance, from kama "love" (see whore) + sutra (see sutra).
kamikaze: "suicide corps," 1945, Japanese, lit. "divine wind," from kami "god, providence, divine" + kaze "wind." Originally the name given in folklore to a typhoon which saved Japan from Mongol invasion by wrecking Kublai Khan's fleet (August 1281).
kanaka: U.S. nautical and Australian name for "native of South Sea islands," 1840, from Hawaiian kanaka "man" (Samoan tangata).
kangaroo: 1770, used by Capt. Cook and botanist Joseph Banks, supposedly an aborigine word from northeast Queensland, Australia, usually said to be unknown now in any native language. However, according to Australian linguist R.M.W. Dixon ("The Languages of Australia," Cambridge, 1980), the word probably is from Guugu Yimidhirr (Endeavour River-area Aborigine language) /gaNurru/ "large black kangaroo."
"In 1898 the pioneer ethnologist W.E. Roth wrote a letter to the Australasian pointing out that gang-oo-roo did mean 'kangaroo' in Guugu Yimidhirr, but this newspaper correspondence went unnoticed by lexicographers. Finally the observations of Cook and Roth were confirmed when in 1972 the anthropologist John Haviland began intensive study of Guugu Yimidhirr and again recorded /gaNurru/." [Dixon]
Kangaroo court is Amer.Eng., first recorded 1853 in a Texas context (also mustang court), from notion of proceeding by leaps.
kanji: "Chinese ideographs that make up the bulk of Japanese writing," 1920, from Jap. kan "Chinese" + ji "letter, character."
Kansas: 1722, from Fr., variant of Kansa, native name of a Siouan people. It is a plural (see Arkansas).
Kantian: 1796, of or pertaining to Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) or his philosophy.
kaolin: "china clay," 1727, from Fr. kaolin (1712), from Chinese Kao-ling, transliteration of the name of a mountain in Jiangxi, China (near which it was originally dug up), from Chinese gao "high" + ling "mountain, hill."
kapellmeister: "conductor," 1838, from Ger., lit. "chapel master," from Kapelle "chapel" (also the name given to a band or orchestra) + Meister "master."
kapok: 1735, from Malay kapoq, name of the large tropical tree which produces the fibers.
kaput: 1895, "finished, worn out, dead," from Ger. kaputt, probably a misunderstanding of the phrase capot machen, a partial translation of Fr. faire capot, a phrase meaning "lose all the tricks in piquet," an obsolete card game, from Fr. capot, lit. "cover, bonnet."
karaoke: 1979, from Japanese, from kara "empty" + oke "orchestra," shortened form of okesutora, a Japanization of Eng. orchestra.
karat: variant of carat (q.v.). In U.S., karat is used for "proportion of fine gold in an alloy" and carat for "weight of a precious stone."
karate: 1955, from Japanese, lit. "empty hand, bare hand," from kara "empty" + te "hand."
karma: 1827, in Buddhism, the sum of a person's actions in one life, which determine his form in the next; from Skt. karman- "action, fate," related to krnoti, Avestan kerenaoiti "makes," O.Pers. kunautiy "he makes;" from PIE base *kwer- "to make, form," related to the second element in Sanskrit.
karoo: "barren table land in S. Africa," 1789, said to be from a Hottentot word meaning "dry."
karyo-: comb. form of Gk. karyon "nut, kernel," used since c.1874 in biological terms refering to cell nuclei.
kathenotheism: "a form of polytheism characteristic of the Vedic religion, in which one god at a time is considered supreme," 1865, coined in Ger. by Max Müller from Gk. kath' hena "one by one" + theism. Müller also coined henotheism (1860), from Gk. henos "one," for "faith in a single god" as distinguished from exclusive belief in only one god, in writings on early Hebrew religion.
katydid: insect of the locust family (Microsentrum rhombifolium), 1784, Amer.Eng. (perhaps first used by John Bartram), imitative of the stridulous sound the male makes when it rubs its front wings together.
katzenjammer: 1849, "a hangover," Amer.Eng. colloquial, from Ger. katzen, comb. form of katze "cat" + jammer "distress, wailing." Hence, "any unpleasant reaction" (1897). Katzenjammer Kids "naughty children" is from title of comic strip first drawn by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 for the "New York Journal."
kayak: 1757, from Dan. kajak, from Greenland Eskimo qayaq, lit. "small boat of skins."
kazoo: 1884, Amer.Eng., probably altered from earlier bazoo "trumpet" (1877); probably ultimately onomatopoeic (cf. bazooka). In England, formerly called a Timmy Talker, in France, a mirliton.
"Kazoos, the great musical wonder, ... anyone can play it; imitates fowls, animals, bagpipes, etc." [1895 Montgomery Ward catalogue, p.245]
kebab: "pieces of meat roasted on a skewer," 1813 (see shish kebab).
keck: "to make a sound as if to vomit," 1537, echoic.
Ked: proprietary name of a brand of canvas sneakers, 1917, registered by United States Rubber Co., N.Y.
"We wanted to call it Peds, but ... it came too close to ... other brand names. So we batted it around for awhile and decided on the hardest-sounding letter in the alphabet, K, and called it Keds, that was in 1916." [J.Healey, in R.L. Cohen, "Footwear Industry," x.93]
keel: "lowest timber of a ship or boat," 1338, from O.N. kjölr "keel," from P.Gmc. *keluz, of uncertain origin. Etymologists say this is unconnected with the root of M.Du. kiel "ship," O.E. ceol "ship's prow," O.H.G. kiel, Ger. Kiel "ship," but the two words have influenced each other. This other word is said to be from P.Gmc. *keula, from PIE *geul- "rounded vessel." Keel still is used locally in England and U.S. for "flat-bottomed boat," especially on the Tyne. To keel over (1876) is from the nautical image of a ship turning keep-up. Keelhaul is 17c. from Du. kielhalen "to haul under the keel," an old punishment. The verb is 1838, Amer.Eng., from the noun.
keen (adj.): O.E. cene "bold brave," later "clever, wise," from P.Gmc. *kan- "be able to" (see can). Original prehistoric senses seem to have been both "brave" and "skilled;" cf. O.N. kænn "skillful, wise," M.Du. coene "bold," O.H.G. kuon "pugnacious, strong," Ger. Kühn "bold, daring." Sense of "eager" is from mid-14c. The meaning "sharp" is peculiar to Eng.: of blades and edges early 13c., of sounds c.1400, of eyesight c.1720. A popular word of approval in teenager and student slang from c.1900.
keen (v.): "lament," 1811, from Ir. caoinim "I weep, wail, lament," from O.Ir. coinim.
keep (v.): late O.E. cepan "to seize, hold," also "to observe," from P.Gmc. *kopijanan, but with no certain connection to other languages. It possibly is related to O.E. capian "to look," from P.Gmc. *kap- (cepan was used c.1000 to render L. observare), which would make the basic sense "to keep an eye on."
"The word prob. belongs primarily to the vulgar and non-literary stratum of the language; but it comes up suddenly into literary use c.1000, and that in many senses, indicating considerable previous development." [OED]
Meaning "financially support and privately control" (usually in ref. to mistresses) is from 1560. The noun meaning "innermost stronghold of a tower" is from 1586, perhaps a translation of It. tenazza, with a notion of "that which keeps" (someone or something); the sense of "food required to keep a person or animal" is attested from 1801. Keepsake is first recorded 1790, on model of namesake; thus an object kept for the sake of the giver. For keeps "completely, for good" is Amer.Eng. colloquial, from 1861. Keeper "one who has charge of some person or thing, warden" is from c.1300; sense of "one who carries on some business" is from c.1440.
kef: 1808, from Arabic kaif "well-being, good-humor." Specifically, state of dreaming intoxication produced by smoking cannabis; dolce far niente. In Morocco and Algeria, it was the name for Indian hemp.
keg: 1452, from O.N. kaggi "keg, cask," of unknown origin. Specific sense of "barrel of beer" is from 1945.
keister: "buttocks," 1931, perhaps transferred from underworld meaning "safe, strongbox" (1914), earlier "a burglar's toolkit that can be locked" (1881); probably from British dialect kist (c.1300, northern form of chest, from O.N. kista) or its Ger. cognate Kiste "chest, box." The connection may be via pickpocket slang sense of "rear trouser pocket" (1930s).
keld: 1697 in northern dialect, but frequent in place names, from O.N. kelda "a well, fountain, spring," also "a deep, still, smooth part of a river."
Kelly: common Irish surname, from O.Ir. ceallach "war." As a type of pool played with 15 balls, it is attested from 1898. Kelly green first recorded 1936.
kelp: 1660s, from M.E. culpe (late 14c.), of unknown origin. Kelper "native or inhabitant of the Falkland Islands" is attested from 1960.