etymological
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- etymologically adverb
- nonetymological adjective
- unetymological adjective
Explanation
Something etymological relates to the way a word originated. You can look up a word's roots and the history of how it came to get its meaning in an etymological dictionary. Etymology is the history of words, including the way they've changed through the years. The adjective etymological describes anything that has to do with etymology. Etymological research of English words often leads back to Old English, Greek, or Latin roots. The etymological origin of etymological, in fact, is Greek: the root word etymologia means "study of the true sense of a word."
Vocabulary lists containing etymological
Frindle
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The Lives of a Cell
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Chronically Dolores
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The verbs for mattering, importer and compter, have no etymological link to matière.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
Say it out loud, and its etymological connection to “paradise” is clear.
From New York Times • Jan. 13, 2023
The effect becomes increasingly oppressive as the arguments wax and wane, about everything from the etymological difference between “leaving” and “fleeing” to the nature of forgiveness.
From Washington Post • Jan. 4, 2023
“For the Calendar, I wanted to go back to the etymological root of the word ‘muse’.
From Reuters • Nov. 16, 2022
Invention, as I mentioned above, has as its etymological root the idea of “coming upon” the available grounds for argument.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
