living | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

363 entries found.

before vowels az-, word-forming element denoting the presence of nitrogen, used from late 19c. as combining form of azote (1791), the old term for "nitrogen" (from Greek a- "not, without" (see a- (3)) + zoion "a living being," from PIE root *gwei- "to live"), which was coined in French by Lavoisier & de Morveau because living things cannot survive in the pure gas.

wellspring (n.)

Old English welspryng "living spring, fountainhead," literal and figurative; see well (n.) + spring (n.2).

bon-vivant (n.)

also bon vivant, "jovial companion, one fond of good living," 1690s, French (see bon); the fem. is bonne vivante.

predacious (adj.)

also predaceous, "living by prey, disposed to prey or plunder, predatory," 1713, from stem of predation (Latin praedari) + -acious.

xerophagy (n.)

"habit of living on dry food," especially as a form of fasting, 1650s, from xero- "dry" + -phagy "eating" (see -phagous).

boulevardier (n.)

1856, a French word in English, "one who frequents the boulevard;" i.e. "man-about-town, one fond of urban living and society."

stylite (n.)

ascetic living on the top of a pillar, 1630s, from Ecclesiastical Greek stylites, from stylos "pillar," from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm."

carotenoid (n.)

"carotene-like pigment found in living things," 1913, from German carotinoïde (1911), from carotin (see carotene) + -oid.

bionomy (n.)

"science of the laws of life, or of living functions," 1853, in books on Comte's philosophy, from bio- "life" + -nomy "rule, law." Related: Bionomic.

breadwinner (n.)

also bread-winner, "one who supplies a living for himself and others," especially a family, 1821, from the noun bread (probably in a literal sense) + winner, from win (v.) in its sense of "struggle for, work at." Attested slightly earlier (1818) in sense "skill or art by which one makes a living." Not too far removed from the image at the root of lord (n.).

Page 5

Trending words