Online Etymology Dictionary

liposuction (n.): 1983, from Greek lipos "fat" (see lipo-) + suction (n.).
lipstick (n.): 1880, from lip (n.) + stick (n.).
liquefaction (n.): late 15c., from French liquéfaction, from Late Latin liquefactionem (nominative liquefactio), noun of action from past participle stem of liquefacere "to make liquid, melt" (see liquefy).
liquefy (v.): early 15c., from Old French liquefier "liquefy, dissolve," from Latin liquefacere "make liquid, melt," from liquere "be fluid" (see liquid (adj.)) + facere "to make" (see factitious).
liqueur (n.): "sweetened, flavored alcoholic liquor," 1729, from French liqueur "liquor, liquid," from Old French licor "liquid." See liquor, which is the same word but borrowed earlier.
liquid (adj.): late 14c., from Old French liquide "liquid, running," from Latin liquidus "fluid, liquid, moist," figuratively "flowing, continuing," from liquere "be fluid," related to liqui "to melt, flow," from PIE *wleik- "to flow, run." Of sounds, from 1630s (the Latin word also was used of sounds). Financial sense of "capable of being converted to cash" is first recorded 1818.
liquid (n.): "a liquid substance," 1709, from liquid (adj.). Earlier it meant "sound of a liquid consonant" (1520s).
liquidate (v.): 1570s, "to reduce to order, to set out clearly" (of accounts), from Late Latin or Medieval Latin liquidatus, past participle of liquidare "to melt, make liquid or clear, clarify," from Latin liquidus (see liquid). Sense of "clear away" (a debt) first recorded 1755. The meaning "wipe out, kill" is from 1924, possibly from Russian likvidirovat. Related: Liquidated; liquidating.
liquidation (n.): 1570s, noun of action from Late Latin liquidare (see liquidate); originally as a legal term in reference to assets; of inconvenient groups of persons, 1925 in communist writings.
liquidator (n.): 1825, agent noun in Latin form from liquidate.
liquidity (n.): 1610s, "quality of being liquid," from Late Latin liquiditatem (nominative liquiditas), from Latin liquidus (see liquid). Meaning "quality of being financially liquid" is from 1897.
liquidize (v.): 1837, "make liquid," from liquid + -ize. Meaning "to run through a kitchen liquidizer" is from 1954. Related: Liquidized; liquidizing.
liquify (v.): alternative spelling of liquefy.
liquor (n.): c.1200, likur "any matter in a liquid state," from Old French licor "fluid, liquid; sap; oil" (Modern French liqueur), from Latin liquorem (nominative liquor) "liquidity, fluidity," also "a liquid, the sea," from liquere "be fluid, liquid" (see liquid (adj.)). Narrowed sense of "fermented or distilled drink" (especially wine) first recorded c.1300. To liquor up "get drunk" is from 1845. The form in English has been assimilated to Latin, but the pronunciation has not changed.
liquorice (n.): chiefly British alternative spelling of licorice.
lira (n.): Italian monetary unit, 1610s, from Italian lira, literally "pound," from Latin libra (see Libra).
lisle (n.): 1851, from French Lisle, earlier spelling of Lille, cith in northwest France where the thread was made; the name is apparently originally l'isle "the island," referring to its location.
lisp (v.): late Old English awlyspian "to lisp," from wlisp (adj.) "lisping," probably of imitative origin (cf. Middle Dutch, Old High German lispen, Danish læspe, Swedish läspa). Related: Lisped; lisping.
lisp (n.): 1620s, from lisp (v.).
lissome (adj.): c.1800, variant of lithesome.
list (n.2): "a narrow strip," Old English liste "border, hem, edge, strip," from Proto-Germanic *liston (cf. Old High German lista "strip, border, list," Old Norse lista "border, selvage,"German leiste), from PIE *leizd- "border, band" (see list (n.1)). The Germanic root also is the source of French liste, Italian lista. This was the source of archaic lists "place of combat," originally at the boundary of fields.
list (n.1): "catalogue consisting of names in a row or series," c.1600, from Middle English liste "border, edging, stripe" (late 13c.), from Old French liste "border, band, row, group," also "strip of paper," or from Old Italian lista "border, strip of paper, list," both from a Germanic source (cf. Old High German lista "strip, border, list," Old Norse lista "border, selvage," Old English liste "border"), from Proto-Germanic *liston, from PIE *leizd- "border, band." The sense of "enumeration" is from strips of paper used as a sort of catalogue.
list (v.1): "tilt, lean," especially of a ship, 1880, earlier (1620s) lust, of unknown origin, perhaps an unexplained spelling variant of Middle English lysten "to please, desire, wish, like" (see list (v.4)) with a sense development from the notion of "leaning" toward what one desires (cf. incline). Related: Listed; listing. The noun in this sense is from 1630s.
list (v.4): "to be pleased, desire" (archaic), mid-12c., lusten, listen "to please, desire," from Old English lystan "to please, cause pleasure or desire, provoke longing," from Proto-Germanic *lustijan (cf. Old Saxon lustian, Dutch lusten "to like, fancy," Old High German lusten, German lüsten, Old Norse lysta); from the root of lust (n.). Related: Listed; listing. As a noun, c.1200, from the verb. Somehow English has lost listy (adj.) "pleasant, willing (to do something); ready, quick" (mid-15c.).
list (v.2): "hear, hearken," now poetic or obsolete, from Old English hlystan "hear, hearken," from hlyst "hearing," from Proto-Germanic *khlustiz, from PIE *kleu- "to hear" (see listen). Related: Listed; listing.
list (v.3): "to put down in a list; to make a list of," 1610s, from list (n.1). Meaning "to place real estate on the market" is from 1904. Attested from c.1300 as "put an edge around," from list (n.2). Related: Listed; listing.
listed (adj.): "included in a roll or catalogue," 1882, from past participle of list (v.3). Of telephone numbers, "in the phone book," from 1919.
listen (v.): Old English hlysnan "to listen," from Proto-Germanic *khlusinon (cf. Dutch luisteren, Old High German hlosen "to listen," German lauschen "to listen"), from PIE root *kleu- "hearing, to hear" (cf. Sanskrit srnoti "hears," srosati "hears, obeys;" Avestan sraothra "ear;" Middle Persian srod "hearing, sound;" Lithuanian klausau "to hear," slove "splendor, honor;" Old Church Slavonic slusati "to hear," slava "fame, glory," slovo "word;" Greek klyo "hear, be called," kleos "report, rumor, fame glory," kleio "make famous;" Latin cluere "to hear oneself called, be spoken of;" Old Irish ro-clui-nethar "hears," clunim "I hear," clu "fame, glory," cluada "ears;" Welsh clywaf "I hear;" Old English hlud "loud," hleoðor "tone, tune;" Old High German hlut "sound;" Gothic hiluþ "listening, attention"). The -t- probably is by influence of Old English hlystan (see list (v.2)). For vowel evolution, see bury. As a noun from 1788 (on the listen "alert").
listenable (adj.): 1919, from listen + -able. Related: Listenability.
listener (n.): 1610s, "one who listens;" agent noun from listen. Meaning "one who hears a radio broadcast" is from 1912; hence listenership (1938).
Listerine (n.): 1879, American English, formulated by Dr. Joseph Lawrence and Jordan Wheat Lambert as a multi-purpose disinfectant and anti-septic for surgery. In 1895, after it was discovered to kill germs commonly found in the mouth, the Lambert Company started marketing it as an oral antiseptic. Named for Joseph Lord Lister (1827-1912), F.R.S., O.M., English surgeon, who revolutionized modern surgery by applying Pasteur's discoveries and performing the first ever antiseptic surgery in 1865. Lister objected in vain to the use of his name on the product. Lister (attested from 1286, an Anglian surname) is from Middle English lit(t)e "to dye" (see litmus) + fem. suffix -ster, hence, "a dyer."
listing (n.): "the placing of property with an agent to be catalogued for sale," 1906, from present participle of list (v.3); meaning "an entry in a catalogue" is from 1962.
listless (adj.): mid-15c., from Middle English liste "pleasure, joy, delight" (see list (v.4)) + -less. Related: Listlessly; listlessness.
lit (n.1): "color, hue, dye," early 12c., from Old Norse litr "color," from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz (cf. Old English wlite "brightness, beauty," Old Frisian wlite "exterior, form," Gothic *wlits "face, form").
lit (adj.): from past participle of light (v.2). Slang meaning "drunk" is recorded from 1914.
lit (n.2): colloquial shortening of literature, attested by 1850.
litany (n.): c.1200, from Old French letanie and directly from Medieval Latin letania, Late Latin litania (cf. Spanish letania, Italian litania), from Greek litaneia "litany, an entreating," from lite "prayer, supplication, entreaty," of unknown origin. From notion of monotonous enumeration of petitions in Christian prayer services came generalized sense of "repeated series," early 19c., borrowed from French.
For those who know the Greek words, a litany is a series of prayers, a liturgy is a canon of public service; the latter in practice includes prayer, but does not say so. [Fowler]
lite (adj.): alternative spelling of light (adj.1), by 1962. Used from at least 1917 in product names, often as a variation of light (n.).
The word Adjusto-Lite for portable electric lamps was opposed by the user of a trade mark Auto-lite registered before the date of use claimed by the applicant. ["The Trade-Mark Reporter," 1922]
liter (n.): 1797, from French litre (1793), from litron, obsolete French measure of capacity for grain, from Medieval Latin litra, from Greek litra "pound," apparently from the same Sicilian Italic source as Latin libra.
literacy (n.): 1883, formed in English from literate + -cy. Illiteracy, however, dates back to 17c.
literal (adj.): late 14c., "taking words in their natural meaning" (originally in reference to Scripture and opposed to mystical or allegorical), from Old French literal and directly from Late Latin literalis/litteralis "of or belonging to letters or writing," from Latin litera/littera "letter, alphabetic sign; literature, books" (see letter (n.1)). Meaning "of or pertaining to alphabetic letters" is from late 15c. Sense of "verbally exact" is attested from 1590s, as is application to the primary sense of a word or passage. Literal-minded is attested from 1791.
literalist (n.): 1640s, from literal + -ist. Related: Literalistic.
literally (adv.): 1530s, "in a literal sense," from literal + -ly (2). Erroneously used in reference to metaphors, hyperbole, etc., even by writers like Dryden and Pope, to indicate "what follows must be taken in the strongest admissible sense" (1680s), which is opposite to the word's real meaning.
literary (adj.): 1640s, "pertaining to alphabet letters," from French littéraire, from Latin literarius/litterarius "belonging to letters or learning," from littera/litera "letter" (see letter (n.1)). Meaning "pertaining to literature" is attested from 1737.
literate (adj.): "educated, instructed," early 15c., from Latin literatus/litteratus "educated, learned," literally "one who knows the letters," formed in imitation of Greek grammatikos from Latin littera/litera "letter" (see letter (n.1)).
literati (n.): "men and women of letters; the learned class as a whole," 1620s, from Latin literati/litterati, plural of literatus/litteratus "lettered" (see literate). The proper singular would be literatus, though Italian literato (1704) sometimes is used.
literation (n.): "representation of sounds by alphabetic letters," 1843, from Latin litera (see letter (n.1)) + -ation.
literature (n.): late 14c., from Latin literatura/litteratura "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from litera/littera "letter" (see letter (n.1)). Originally "book learning" (it replaced Old English boccræft), the meaning "literary production or work" is first attested 1779 in Johnson's "Lives of the English Poets" (he didn't include this definition in his dictionary, however); that of "body of writings from a period or people" is first recorded 1812.
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. [Ezra Pound, "ABC of Reading"]
Meaning "the whole of the writing on a particular subject" is from 1860; sense of "printed matter generally" is from 1895. The Latin word also is the source of Spanish litteratura, Italian letteratura, German Literatur.
lith (n.): "joint, limb," Old English liþ "limb, member, joint," cognate with Old Frisian lith, Dutch lid, Old High German lid, Old Norse liðr, Gothic liþus, German glied "limb, member."
lithe (adj.): Old English liðe "soft, mild, gentle, meek," from Proto-Germanic *linthja- (cf. Old Saxon lithi "soft, mild, gentle," Old High German lindi, German lind, Old Norse linr, with characteristic loss of "n" before "th" in English), from PIE root *lent- "flexible" (cf. Latin lentus "flexible, pliant, slow," Sanskrit lithi). In Middle English, used of the weather. Current sense of "easily flexible" is from c.1300. Related: Litheness.