change | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

397 entries found.

late 14c., "liable to change," from Latin mutabilis "changeable," from mutare "to change," from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move," with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services as regulated by custom or law (compare Latin mutuus "done in exchange").

metathesis (n.)

1570s, in grammar, "transposition of letters in a word;" c. 1600, "rhetorical transposition of words," from Late Latin metathesis, from Greek metathesis "change of position, transposition, change of opinion," from stem of metatithenai "to transpose," from meta "change" (see meta-) + tithenai "to place, to set," from reduplicated form of PIE root *dhe- "to set, put." Plural is metatheses. Related: Metathetic; metathetical.

mutatis mutandis

"with the necessary changes," Latin, literally "things being changed that have to be changed," from the ablative plurals of, respectively, the past participle and gerundive of mutare "to change" (from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move").

metastasis (n.)

"change of substance, conversion of one substance into another," 1570s, originally in rhetoric, from Late Latin metastasis "transition," from Greek metastasis "a removing, removal; migration; a changing; change, revolution," from methistanai "to remove, change," from meta, here indicating "change" (see meta-) + histanai "to place, cause to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm." A rhetorical term in Late Latin for "a sudden transition in subjects," medical use for "shift of disease from one part of the body to another" dates from 1660s in English. Related: Metastatic.

metanoia (n.)

1768, "penitence, spiritual conversion," from Greek metanoia "afterthought, repentance," from metanoein "to change one's mind or purpose," from meta, here indicating "change" (see meta-) + noein "to have mental perception," from noos "mind, thought," which is of uncertain origin.

variable (adj.)

late 14c., of persons, "apt to change, fickle," from Old French variable "various, changeable, fickle," from Late Latin variabilis "changeable," from variare "to change" (see vary). Of weather, seasons, etc., attested from late 15c.; of stars, from 1788.

metamorphize (v.)

"to change, transform" (trans.), 1590s, from Greek meta, here indicating "change" (see meta-) + morphē "form, shape," a word of uncertain etymology, + -ize. Related: Metamorphized; metamorphizing. Alternative verbal form metamorphosize is attested from 1841; the earlier word was metamorphose.

transfiguration (n.)

late 14c., from Latin transfigurationem (nominative transfiguratio) "a change of form," noun of action from past-participle stem of transfigurare ""change the shape of" (see transfigure). In English, originally "the change in appearance of Christ before his disciples" (Matthew xvii.2; Mark ix.2, 3). The non-Christian sense is first recorded 1540s.

troposphere (n.)

1914, from French troposphère, literally "sphere of change," coined by French meteorologist Philippe Teisserenc de Bort (1855-1913) from Greek tropos "a turn, change" (from PIE root *trep- "to turn") + sphaira "sphere" (see sphere). Related: Tropopause.

invariability (n.)

"lack of variability or of liability to change," 1640s, from invariable + -ity. Invariableness is from 1650s.

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