itself | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

549 entries found.

"riot resulting from racial hostility," by 1875, American English, from race (n.2) + riot (n.). The thing itself is older; in the Jacksonian era it was comprised in the general term mobbing.

pseudopod (n.)

type of protozoa, 1862, from Modern Latin pseudopodium (itself in English from 1854), from pseudo- + Latinized form of Greek podion, diminutive of pous "foot" (from PIE root *ped- "foot"). Related: Pseudopodal.

cyclical (adj.)

1817, of a line, "returning into itself," from cyclic + -al (1). From 1834 as "pertaining to a cycle, cyclic." In botany, "rolled up circularly;" in zoology, "recurrent in successive circles."

syrinx (n.)

tubular instrument, c. 1600, the thing itself known from 14c. in English, from Late Latin syrinx, from Greek syrinx "shepherd's pipe" (see syringe). Used of vocal organs of birds from 1872.

gutta-percha (n.)

1845, from Malay (Austronesian) getah percha, literally "the gum of percha," the name of the tree; the form of the word was influenced by Latin gutta "drop." As the name of the tree itself, from 1860.

intergalactic (adj.)

1928, in reference to galaxies as presently understood, from inter- + galactic. The word itself was in use by 1901, when galaxies were thought to be a sort of nebulae.

self-feeder (n.)

"one who or that which feeds itself" in any sense, 1877; see self- + feeder. Self-feeding (adj.), "keeping up a constant supply of anything in constant consumption" is attested from 1835.

spherical (adj.)

1520s, from sphere + -ical. Related: Spherically. A spherical number (1640s) is one whose powers always terminate in the same digit as the number itself (5, 6, and 10 are the only ones).

pillbug (n.)

also pill-bug, kind of wood-louse or other insect-like crustacean which can roll itself into a ball like a pill, 1841, from pill (n.) + bug (n.).

replicate (adj.)

1832, in botany, of a leaf, "folded back upon itself; folded so as to form a groove," from Latin replicatus, past participle of replicare "to fold back, fold over" (see replicate (v.)).

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