west | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

614 entries found.

also shote, "a young weaned pig," early 15c., perhaps from a Low German word (compare West Flemish schote "pig under 1 year old"), of unknown origin.

unrest (n.)

mid-14c., from un- (1) "not" + rest (n.). Similar formation in West Frisian onrest, Middle Low German unreste, German unrast, Middle Dutch onruste.

black code (n.)

local or state legal restrictions on black persons, free or slave, 1774, American English, though the first reference is to French colonies in the West Indies.

Mountie (n.)

1914, member of the Royal Canadian (originally North-west) Mounted Police, formed 1873 to keep order in the former Hudson's Bay Company lands. Also see -ie.

goatherd (n.)

"one whose occupation is the care of goats," early 13c. (as a surname), from or replacing Old English gat-hyrde (West Saxon); see goat + herd (n.).

-teenth

word-forming element making ordinal numbers from 13 to 19, from -teen + -th (1), displacing Old English -teoða, -teoðe (West Saxon), related to teogoða (Anglian) "tenth."

Sahel

belt of mostly grassy land just below the Sahara in West Africa, from Arabic sahil "sea coast, shore." Originally in reference to the coastal region. Related: Sahelian.

Bactrian

late 14c., "inhabitant of Bactria," ancient region in what is now northwestern Afghanistan; as a type of camel c. 1600; from Latin Bactria, from Persian, literally "the western province," from bakhtar "the west."

rutabaga (n.)

"Swedish turnip," 1799, from Swedish dialectal (West Götland) rotabagge, from rot "root" (from PIE root *wrād- "branch, root") + bagge "bag" (see bag (n.)). Slang meaning "dollar" is from 1940s.

Senegal

West African nation, independent from 1960, formerly a French colony, by 1783, named for the river through it, which is named perhaps from a local word meaning "navigable." Related: Senegalese.

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