Online Etymology Dictionary

hot: O.E. hat "hot, opposite of cold," also "fervent, fierce," from P.Gmc. *haitoz (cf. O.Fris. het, O.N. heitr, Du. heet, Ger. heiß "hot," Goth. heito "heat of a fever"), from PIE base *qai- (cf. Lith. kaistu "to grow hot"), the same root as that of heat. Taste sense of "pungent, acrid, biting" is from 1548. Sense of "exciting, remarkable, very good" is 1895; that of "stolen" is first recorded 1925 (originally with overtones of "easily identified and difficult to dispose of"); that of "radioactive" is from 1942. Hot air "unsubstantiated statements, boastful talk" is from 1900. Hot potato in figurative sense is from 1846. Hot-blooded "passionate" (1598) is a relic of medieval physiology theory. The association of hot with sexuality dates back to 1500. Hot rod first recorded 1945 in Amer.Eng.; hot water "trouble" is from 1537. The hot and cold in hide-and-seek or guessing games are from hunting (1648), with notion of tracking a scent. Hot spot "night club" first recorded 1931. Hotshot "important person" is from 1933; it earlier meant "fast train" (1925).
housing (2): "ornamental covering," 1312, houce "covering for the back and flanks of a horse," from M.L. hultia, from Frank. *khulfti (cf. M.Du. hulfte "pocket for bow and arrow," M.H.G. hulft "covering"). Sense of "case or enclosure for machine or part" is first recorded 1882.
lumbago: 1620 (implied in lumbaginous), from L.L. lumbago "weakness of loins and lower back," from L. lumbus "loin."
-lysis: scientific/medical suffix meaning "loosening, dissolving, dissolution," from Gk. lysis "a loosening, setting free, releasing, dissolution," from lyein "to unfasten, loose, loosen, untie" (see lose). A Fr. back-formation gave Eng. -lyze for forming verbs from nouns in -lysis.
methyl: "univalent hydrocarbon radical," 1844, from Ger. methyl (1840) or Fr. méthyle, back-formation from Fr. méthylène, coined in Fr. 1835 from Gk. methy "wine" + hyle "wood." The word was introduced by Swed. chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848).
-ph-: consonantal digraph, now usually representing "f," originally the combination used by Romans to represent Gk. letter phi (cognate with Skt. -bh-, Gmc. -b-), which at first was an aspirated "p," later the same sound as Ger. -pf-, but by 2c. B.C.E. had become a simple sound made by blowing through the lips (bilabial spirant). Roman "f," like modern Eng. "f," was dentilabial; by c.400, however, the sounds had become identical and in some Romanic languages (It., Sp.), -ph- regularly was replaced by -f-. This tendency took hold in O.Fr. and M.E., but with the revival of classical learning the words subsequently were altered back to -ph- (except fancy and fantastic), and due to zealousness in this some non-Gk. words in -f- began to appear in -ph-, though these forms generally have not survived.
phase: 1812, "phase of the moon," back-formed as a sing. from Mod.L. phases, pl. of phasis, from Gk. phasis "appearance" (of a star), "phase" (of the moon), from stem of phainein "to show, to make appear" (see phantasm). L. sing. phasis was used in Eng. from 1660. Non-lunar application is first attested 1841. Meaning "temporary difficult period" (especially of adolescents) is attested from 1913. The verb meaning "to synchronize" is from 1938, from the noun.
phat: hip-hop slang, "great, excellent," 1992, originating perhaps in the late 1980s and meaning at first "sexiness in a woman." The word itself is presumably a variant of fat (q.v.) in one of its slang senses, with the kind of off-beat spelling preferred in street slang (cf. boyz). The spelling is attested as far back as 1678, as an erroneous form of fat (a classical over-correction; see -ph-). This spelling is said by some to be an acronym, but various versions are given: "pretty hot and tasty," or "pretty hips and thighs" among them. These, too may have been innovations given as explanations to women who felt insulted by the word.
ridge: O.E. hrycg "back of a man or beast," probably reinforced by O.N. hryggr "back, ridge," from P.Gmc. *khrugjaz (cf. O.Fris. hregg, O.S. hruggi, Du. rug, O.H.G. hrukki, Ger. Rücken "the back"), of uncertain origin. Also in O.E., "the top or crest of anything," especially when long and narrow. The connecting notion is of the "ridge" of the backbone. Ridge-runner "Southern Appalachian person" first recorded 1917.
shrink: O.E. scrincan (class III strong verb; past tense scranc, pp. scruncen), from P.Gmc. *skrenkanan (cf. M.Du. schrinken), probably from PIE base *(s)ker- "to turn, bend." Originally with causal shrench (cf. drink/drench). The meaning "draw back, recoil" (c.1300) perhaps was suggested by the behavior of snails. The slang sense of "psychiatrist" is first recorded 1966, from head-shrinker (1950). Shrink-wrap is attested from 1961.
shuttle (n.): O.E. scytel "a dart, arrow," from W.Gmc. *skutilaz (cf. O.N. skutill "harpoon"), from P.Gmc. *skut- "project" (see shoot). The weaving instrument so called (1338) from being "shot" across the threads. In some other languages, the machine takes its name from its resemblance to a boat (cf. L. navicula, Fr. navette, Ger. weberschiff). Sense of "train that runs back and forth" is first recorded 1895, from image of the weaver's instrument's back-and-forth movement over the warp; extended to aircraft 1942, to spacecraft 1969. Hence also shuttlecock (1522).
sidle: "to move or go sideways," 1690s, back-formation from obsolete M.E. sidlyng (adv.) "obliquely, sideways" (early 14c.), from side + adv. suffix -ling; altered on analogy of verbs ending in -le.
sigh: c.1300 (n. and v.), probably a back-formation from sighte, past tense of O.E. sican "to sigh," perhaps echoic of the sound of sighing.
to: O.E. to "in the direction of, for the purpose of, furthermore," from W.Gmc. *to (cf. O.S., O.Fris. to, Du. too, O.H.G. zuo, Ger. zu "to"), from PIE pronomial base *do- "to, toward, upward" (cf. L. donec "as long as," O.C.S. do "as far as, to," Gk. suffix -de "to, toward," O.Ir. do, Lith. da-). In O.E., the preposition (go to town) leveled with the adverb (the door slammed to) except where the adverb retained its stress (tired and hungry too); there it came to be written with -oo (see too). The nearly universal use of to with infinitives (to sleep, to dream, etc.) arose in M.E. out of the O.E. dative use of to, and helped drive out the O.E. inflectional endings (though in this use to itself is a mere sign, without meaning). Commonly used as a prefix in M.E. (to-hear "listen to," etc.), but few of these survive (to-do, together, and time references like today, tonight, tomorrow -- Chaucer also has to-yeere). To and fro "side to side" is attested from 1340. Phrase what's it to you "how does that concern you?" goes back a long way:
"Huæd is ðec ðæs?"
[John xxi.22, in Lindisfarne Gospel, c.950]
toddle: "to run or walk with short, unsteady steps," c.1600, Scottish and northern British, of uncertain origin, possibly a back-formation of toddler, or related to totter (1534); an earlier sense of "to toy, play" is found c.1500. Toddler "toddling child" is first recorded 1793.
Apache: 1745, from Amer.Sp. (1598), probably from Yavapai (a Yuman language) 'epache "people." Sometimes derived from Zuni apachu "enemy" (cf. F.W. Hodge, "American Indians," 1907), but this seems to have been the Zuni name for the Navajo. Fr. journalistic sense of "Parisian gangster or thug" first attested 1902. Apache dance was the WWI-era equivalent of 1990s' brutal "slam dancing." Fenimore Cooper's Indian novels were enormously popular in Europe throughout the 19c., and comparisons of Cooper's fictional Indian ways in the wilderness and underworld life in European cities go back ro Dumas' "Les Mohicans de Paris" (1854-1859). It is probably due to the imitations of Cooper (amounting almost to plagiarisms) by Ger. author Karl May (1842-1912), that Apaches replaced Mohicans in popular imagination.
bound (v.): "to leap," 1586, from M.Fr. bondir, from O.Fr. bondir "to leap, rebound, make a noise," originally "to echo back," from V.L. *bombitire "to buzz, hum" (see bomb), perhaps on model of V.L. *tinnitire.
bow (v.): O.E. bugan "to bend, to bend the body in condescension," also "to turn back" (class II strong verb; past tense beag, pp. bogen), from P.Gmc. *bugon (cf. M.L.G. bugen, O.H.G. biogan, Goth. biugan "to bend," O.N. boginn "bent"), from *beugen, from PIE base *bheugh- (cf. Skt. bhujati "bends, thrusts aside"). The noun is first recorded 1656. Bow out "withdraw" is from 1942.
collaborate: 1871, back-formation from collaborator (1802), from Fr. collaborateur, from L. collaboratus, pp. of collaborare "work with," from com- "with" + labore "to work."
drowsy: c.1529, from O.E. drusan, drusian "sink," also "become low, slow, or inactive" (related to dreosan "to fall"), from P.Gmc. *drus- (see dreary). Drowsy is a 1573 back-formation.
drumlin: 1833, dim. of drum (1725) "ridge or long, narrow hill," often separating two parallel valleys, from Gael. & Ir. druim "back, ridge."
humiliation: late 14c., from O.Fr. humiliation, from L.L. humiliationem (nom. humiliatio) "humbling, humiliation," from L. humiliare "to humble," from humilis "humble." Humiliate is c.1533, a back-formation of this.
hype (n.): "excessive or misleading publicity or advertising," 1967, Amer.Eng. (the verb is attested from 1937), probably in part a back-formation of hyperbole, but also from underworld slang sense "swindle by overcharging or short-changing" (1926), a back-formation of hyper "short-change con man" (1914), from prefix hyper- meaning "over, to excess." Also possibly influenced by drug addicts' slang hype, 1913 shortening of hypodermic needle. In early 18c., hyp "morbid depression of the spirits" was colloquial for hypochondria (usually as the hyp or the hyps).
pipe: O.E. pipe "musical wind instrument," also "tube to convey water," from V.L. *pipa "a pipe" (cf. It. pipa, Fr. pipe, Ger. Pfeife, Dan. pibe, Du. pijp), a back-formation from L. pipare "to chirp or peep," of imitative origin. All tubular senses ultimately derive from "small reed, whistle." Meaning "device for smoking" first recorded 1594. The verb sense of "to play on a pipe" is from O.E. pipian; the meaning "convey through pipes" is first recorded 1889. A pipe dream (1896) is the sort of improbably fantasy one has while smoking opium. Piping hot is in Chaucer, a reference to hissing of food in a frying pan; to pipe up (c.1425) originally meant "to begin to play" (on a musical instrument). Pipe down "be quiet" first recorded 1900.
plot: O.E. plot "small piece of ground," of unknown origin. Sense of "ground plan," and thus "map, chart" is 1551; that of "plan, scheme" is 1587, probably by accidental similarity to complot, from O.Fr. complot "combined plan," of unknown origin, perhaps a back-formation from compeloter "to roll into a ball." Meaning "set of events in a story" is from 1649. The verb is first attested 1589 in the sense of "to lay plans for" (usually with evil intent); 1590 in the lit. sense of "to make a map or diagram."
rotation: 1555, from L. rotationem (nom. rotatio), noun of action from rotare "revolve, roll," from PIE *roto- (see rotary). Verb rotate is an 1808 back-formation. Rotator "muscle which allows a part to be moved circularly" is recorded from 1676.
rotisserie: 1868, "restaurant where meat is roasted on a spit," from Fr. rôtisserie "shop selling cooked food, restaurant," from prp. stem of rôtir "to roast," from O.Fr. rostir (see roast). As an in-home cooking apparatus, attested from 1953. Manufacturers (or their copy writers) back-formed a verb, rotiss (1958). Rotisserie league (1980), a form of fantasy baseball, is based on La Rotisserie, the Manhattan restaurant where it was conceived.
rotten: early 13c., from O.N. rotinn "decayed," pp. of verb related to rotna "to decay," from P.Gmc. stem *rut- (see rot). Sense of "corrupt" is from late 14c.; weakened sense of "bad" first recorded 1881. Rotter "objectionable person" is recorded from 1894. Rotten apple is from a saying traced back to at least 1528: "For one rotten apple lytell and lytell putrifieth an whole heape."
round (adj., adv.): c.1290, from Anglo-Fr. rounde, O.Fr. roont, probably originally *redond, from V.L. *retundus (cf. Prov. redon, Sp. redondo, O.It. ritondo), from L. rotundus "like a wheel, circular, round," related to rota "wheel" (see rotary). The O.Fr. word is the source of M.Du. ront (Du. rond), M.H.G. runt (Ger. rund) and similar Gmc. words. In many uses it is an aphetic form of around. First record of round trip is from 1860. Round number is 1646, from earlier sense of "full, complete" (1340, sense of symmetry extended to that of completeness); roundhouse (1589) is from Du. rondhuis "guardhouse." King Arthur's Round Table is attested from c.1300, from O.Fr. table ronde (1155, in Wace's Roman de Brut). Roundhead "adherent of Parliamentary party in the English Civil War" (1641) is from their custom of wearing the hair close-cropped, in contrast to the flowing curls of the cavaliers. Round heels attested from 1926, in ref. to incompetent boxers, 1927 in ref. to loose women, in either case implying an inability to avoid ending up flat on one's back.
row (3): "noisy commotion," 1746, Cambridge University slang, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to rousel "drinking bout" (1602), a shortened form of carousal. Klein suggests a back-formation from rouse (n.), mistaken as a plural (cf. pea from pease).
rucksack: 1866, from Ger. Rucksack, from Alpine dialect Rück "the back" (from Ger. Rücken) + Sack "sack."
rush (v.): c.1340 (implied in rushing), "to drive back or down," from Anglo-Fr. russher, from O.Fr. ruser "to dodge, repel" (see ruse). Meaning "to do something quickly" is from 1659; transitive sense of "to hurry up (someone or something)" is from 1850. Football sense originally was in rugby (1857). Fraternity/sorority sense is from 1896 (originally it was what the fraternity did to the student). The noun is attested from c.1380; sense of "mass migration of people" (especially to a gold field) is from 1848, Amer.Eng. Meaning "surge of pleasure" is from 1960s. Rush hour first recorded 1890.
skimp: 1879, probably a back-formation of skimpy (1842), from skimp (adj.) "scanty" (1775), which perhaps ultimately is from an early 18c. alteration of scrimp.
slat: 1382, "a roofing slate," from O.Fr. esclat "split piece, splinter," back-formation from esclater "to break, splinter, burst," probably from Frank. *slaitan "to tear, slit," related to O.H.G. slizan, O.E. slitan (see slit). Meaning "long, thin, narrow piece of wood or metal" attested from 1764.
sleazy: 1644, "hairy, fuzzy," later "flimsy, unsubstantial" (1670), of unknown origin; one theory traces it somehow to Silesian "of the eastern German province of Silesia" (Ger. Schleisen), where fine linen or cotton fabric was made (Silesia in ref. to cloth is attested in Eng. from 1674; and Sleazy as an abbreviated form is attested from 1670, but OED is against this). Sense of "sordid" is from 1941; sleaze (n.) "condition of squalor" is a 1967 back-formation; meaning "person of low moral standards," and the adj. form, are attested from 1976.
sleuth: c.1200, "track or trail of a person," from O.N. sloð "trail," of uncertain origin. Meaning "detective" is 1872, shortening of sleuthhound "keen investigator" (1849), a figurative use of a word for a kind of bloodhound that dates back to late 14c. The verb (intrans.) meaning "to act as a detective, investigate" is recorded from 1912.
slice (n.): c.1300, "a fragment," from O.Fr. esclis "splinter," a back-formation from esclicier "to splinter," from Frank. *slitan "to split" (cf. O.H.G. slizan; see slit). Meaning "piece cut from something" emerged c.1420. Meaning "a slicing stroke" (in golf, tennis) is recorded from 1886. Slice of life (1895) translates Fr. tranche de la vie, a term from Fr. Naturalist literature.
slight (adj.): from an O.Scand. source akin to O.N. slettr "smooth, sleek," from P.Gmc. *slikhtaz (cf. O.S. slicht; Low Ger. slicht "smooth, plain common;" O.E. -sliht "level," attested in eorðslihtes "level with the ground;" O.Fris. sliucht, M.Du. sleht, O.H.G. sleht, Goth. slaihts "smooth"), probably from a collateral form of PIE base *sleig- "to smooth, glide." Sense evolution is from "level" to "smooth, sleek" (c.1300), to "slender, weak" (1393), to "trifling, inferior" (1548). The verb sense of "treat with indifference" is first recorded 1597, from the adj. sense of "having little worth." Sense of Ger. cognate schlecht developed from "smooth, plain, simple" to "bad," and as it did it was replaced in the original senses by schlicht, a back-formation from schlichten "to smooth, to plane," a derivative of schlecht in the old sense.
slum: 1845, from back slum "back alley, street of poor people" (1825), originally a slang word meaning "room," especially "back room" (1812), of unknown origin. Go slumming is from 1884, pastime popularized by East End novels. Slumlord first attested 1953, from slum landlord (1893).
trace (n.1): "track made by passage of a person or thing," c.1300, from O.Fr. trace, back-formation from tracier (see trace (v.)). Scientific sense of "indication of minute presence in some chemical compound" is from 1827. The verb in the sense of "follow by means of traces or tracks" is recorded from c.1450. Traces "vestiges" is from c.1400. Tracer "bullet whose course is made visible" is attested from 1910.
track (n.): 1470, "footprint, mark left by anything," from O.Fr. trac "track of horses, trace" (1440), possibly from a Gmc. source (cf. M.L.G. treck, Du. trek "drawing, pulling;" see trek). Meaning "lines of rails for drawing trains" is from 1805. Meaning "branch of athletics involving a running track" is recorded from 1905. Meaning "single recorded item" is from 1904, originally in ref. to phonograph records. Meaning "mark on skin from repeated drug injection" is first attested 1964. The verb meaning "to follow or trace the footsteps of" is recorded 1565, from the noun. Track record (1965) is a figurative use from horse racing. To make tracks "move quickly" is Amer.Eng. colloquial first recorded 1835; to cover (one's) tracks in the fig. sense first attested 1898; to keep track of something is attested from 1883. The metaphor in Amer.Eng. wrong side of the tracks "bad part of town" has been traced back to 1929. Track lighting attested from 1972.
train (n.): early 14c., "a drawing out, delay," later "trailing part of a skirt" (mid-15c.), also "retinue, procession" (mid-15c.), from O.Fr. train (fem. traine), from trainer "to pull, draw," from V.L. *traginare, extended from *tragere "to pull," back formation from tractus, pp. of L. trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (1)). Train of thought first attested 1650s. The railroad sense is recorded from 1824, from notion of a "train" of carriages. British train-spotting "hobby of observing trains and recording locomotive numbers" is recorded from 1958.
transparent: 1413, from M.L. transparentem (nom. transparens), prp. of transparere "show light through," from L. trans- "through" + parere "come in sight, appear." Figurative sense of "easily seen through" is first attested 1592. The attempt to back-form a verb transpare (1604) died with the 17c.
aristocrat: 1789, from Fr. aristocrate, a word of the Revolution, a back-formation from aristocratie (see aristocracy).
arrest (v.): "to cause to stop," also "to detain legally," late 14c., from O.Fr. arester "to stay, stop," from V.L. *arrestare (cf. It. arrestare, Sp., Port. arrestar), from L. ad- "to" + restare "to stop, remain behind, stay back," from re- "back" + stare "to stand," from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Fig. sense of "to catch and hold" (the attention, etc.) is from 1814.
breech: "back part of a gun or firearm," 1575, from sing. of breeches (q.v.).
committal (n.): 1620s, from commit + -al. As an adj., attested from 1884, apparently a back-formation from non-committal.
commute: c.1450, from L. commutare "to often change, to change altogether," from com- intensive prefix + mutare "to change" (see mutable). Sense of "make less severe" is 1633. Sense of "go back and forth to work" is 1889, from commutation ticket "season pass" (on a railroad, streetcar line, etc.), from commute in its sense of "to change one kind of payment into another" (1795), especially "to combine a number of payments into a single one."
mix (v.): 1538, back-formation from M.E. myxte (c.1480), from Anglo-Fr. mixte, from L. mixtus, pp. of miscere "to mix," from PIE *meik- "to mix" (cf. Skt. misrah "mixed," Gk. misgein "to mix, mingle," O.C.S. meso, mesiti "to mix," Rus. meshat, Lith. maisau "to mix, mingle," Welsh mysgu). Also borrowed in O.E. as miscian. The noun is attested from c.1586. Mixer "troublemaker" is from 1938; in sense of "social gathering to mingle and get acquainted" it dates from 1916. Mixture is attested from c.1460, from L. mixtura, from mixtus. Slang mixologist "bartender" is from 1856. Mixed marriage is from 1698 (originally in a religious context; racial sense was in use by 1942 in U.S., though mixed breed in ref. to mulattoes is found by 1775). Mixed bag "heterogeneous collection" is from 1936. Mixed up "confused" is from 1862; mix-up "confusion" first recorded 1898.
mohair: 1570, "fine hair of the Angora goat," also "a fabric made from this," from M.Fr. mocayart, It. mocaiarro, both from Arabic mukhayyar "cloth of goat hair," lit. "selected, choice," from khayyana "he chose." Spelling infl. in Eng. by association with hair. Moire "watered silk" (1660) probably represents Eng. mohair borrowed into Fr. and back into English.