walking | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

89 entries found.

"club-foot, deformed foot," from Latin talus "ankle" (see talus (n.1)) + pes "foot" (from PIE root *ped- "foot"). The notion seems to be "walking on the ankles."

plod (v.)

"trudge, travel or work slowly and perseveringly; go with steady and laborious diligence," 1560s, of uncertain origin, perhaps imitative of the sound of walking heavily or slowly. Related: Plodded; plodder; plodding.

splosh (v.)

1889 [in Farmer, who calls it "A New England variant of splash"], ultimately imitative. Perhaps influenced by splish-splosh "sound made by feet walking through wet" (1881). Related: Sploshed; sploshing.

gravigrade (adj.)

"walking with heavy steps," 1839, probably via French, a modern scientific compound from Latin gravis "heavy" (from PIE root *gwere- (1) "heavy") + gradi "to walk" (from PIE root *ghredh- "to walk, go").

moonwalk (n.)

1966, "a walking on the moon," from moon (n.) + walk (n.). As a dance move in which the dancer moves backward while appearing to walk forward it was popularized 1983 by Michael Jackson.

mincing (adj.)

"affectedly dainty, simpering," 1520s, probably originally in reference to speech, when words were "clipped" to affect elegance; or in reference to walking with short steps; present-participle adjective from mince (v.). Related: Mincingly.

trifid (adj.)

"divided into three lobes," 1620s, from Latin trifidus "cleft in three," from tri- "three" (see tri-) + -fid. This adjective probably inspired triffid, the name of the three-legged walking poisonous plants in John Wyndham's novel "The Day of the Triffids" (1951).

ambulation (n.)

"act of walking about," 1570s, from Latin ambulationem (nominative ambulatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of ambulare "to walk, go about" (see amble (v.)). The word was used earlier in reference to the spread of disease (1540s).

ambulant (adj.)

1610s, "walking, moving from place to place," from Latin ambulantem (nominative ambulans), present participle of ambulare "to walk, go about" (see amble (v.)). Of diseases, denoting cases in which the patient may be up and around, by 1913.

afoot (adv., adj.)

c. 1200, afote, "on foot, walking, not on horseback," contraction of prepositional phrase on fotum; see a- (1) "on" + foot (n.). Meaning "astir, on the move" is from 1520s; figurative sense of "in active operation" is from 1601 ("Julius Caesar").

Page 3

Trending words