Philip

Philip (countable and uncountable, plural Philips)

From Middle English Philip, ultimately from Ancient Greek Φίλιππος (Phílippos), name of ancient kings of Macedonia, from φίλιππος (phílippos, “fond of horses”), from φιλέω (philéō, “I love”) + ἵππος (híppos, “horse”).

af

Philip Berold, conceiting this his name, very Clerkly proves that Philip is an Apostolical name by Saint Philip the Apostle, a Royal name by King Philip King of Macedonia, and an Imperial name by Philip the first Christian Emperour.

1605, William Camden, Remains Concerning Britain, John Russell Smith, published 1870, page 93:

I used to envy my brother his name, and recall once accusing my mother of having favored him, else why did she name me Nathan and him Philip, tell me that, ma, tell me that. He had king Philip and if day-dreaming that association wasn't pleasure enough, there was the then movie star, Phillips Holmes. All I had was Nathan Hale.

1972, Nate Perlmutter, A Bias of Reflections: Confessions of an Incipient Old Jew, Arlington House, →ISBN, page 27:

"Philip," Luke repeated slowly, and a brightness came into his eyes. "She decided to name him Philip, after all." "A family name?" Cody asked him. Luke shrugged. "Actually, it's mine. I never much cared for it as a kid and dropped it when I started school. I insisted everyone call me by my middle name." "Ellie says your son looks like a Philip," Sherry put in. A wide grin split Luke's face. ""I think she's right―he does."

2010, Debbie Macomber, Orchard Valley Brides, MIRA, published 2010, →ISBN:

(countable) A male given name from Ancient Greek.


Diogenes

From Latin Diogenēs, from Ancient Greek Διογένης (Diogénēs).

An Ancient Greek male given name from Ancient Greek


Francis

From Medieval Latin Franciscus (“French(man)”) (from Francia (“France”), originally a nickname of Saint Francis of Assisi. Doublet of Francisco and Franz.

bor

(used only as equivalent to French François) Francés

Francis is one of the pleasantest names in use. It has a fine open air with it, - a sound correspondent to its sense.

1820 February 9, Leigh Hunt, “Names”, in The Indicator, number XVIII:

Francis had never been 'Frank' or 'Fran', he had always been called by his full name. It had lent him a certain dignity that he had possibly never earned.

2006, Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn, Black Swan, published 2007, →ISBN, page 454:

(rare) A female given name from Latin, Alternative spelling of Frances.

A ghost town in Wheeler County, Nebraska, United States.

A town in Summit County, Utah, United States.


Janet

→ Welsh: Sioned

From Jane + -et, q.v. Chiefly Scottish until the 19th century.
Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna.

doublet

Keek into the draw-well, Janet, Janet,
And there ye'll see ye'r bonny fell, my jo Janet.

1733, Allan Ramsay, “My Jo Janet”, in The Tea-Table Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scots Songs:

Alice decided to have lots and lots of children and all of them with lovely names like Amanda-Jane and Arabella and Dominic and Ganymede.
"But too many children will be expensive," Flora said. "I'm having two and mine aren't called such silly names as yours. Mine are called Andrew and Janet."
"All right," Alice said, who was by nature accommodating. "Those are nice names, Flora."

1990, Barbara Trapido, Temples of Delight, page 50:


Irishman

From Middle English Irisshman, equivalent to Irish + -man.

It is so absurd to advance into the presence of savage royalty after the fashion of an Irishman driving a pig to market, for that is what we looked like, and the idea nearly made me burst out laughing then and there.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:


Francisco

en-proper noun

Francisco (countable and uncountable, plural Franciscos)

From Latin Franciscus. Doublet of Francis.
* (given name): From Romance Francisco (Portuguese Francisco, Spanish Francisco)
* (moon of Uranus): From the naming pattern established for moons of Uranus, being references to the works of William Shakespeare. From being a character in the play The Tempest

(countable) A male given name from Spanish or Portuguese, equivalent to English Francis


Kevin

→ Breton: Kevin

→ Cebuano: Kevin

→ Danish: Kevin

→ Dutch: Kevin

→ Estonian: Kevin

→ French: Kevin, Kévin m

French: Kevine f

→ German: Kevin

→ Lithuanian: Kevinas

→ Norwegian: Kevin

→ Polish: Kewin

→ Portuguese: Kevin

→ Spanish: Kevin

→ Swedish: Kevin

→ Tagalog: Kevin

Name of a seventh-century Irish saint, from Irish Caoimhghin or Caoimhín, from Old Irish Cóemgen (literally “dear birth/person”). It first became popular outside Ireland in the mid-twentieth century.


Marvin

From Welsh Merfyn (“Mervyn”), probably from mer (“marrow”) + myn (“eminent”).

"Thank you the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation," said Marvin and trudged desolately up the gleaming curved corridor that stretched out before them. "Let's build robots with Genuine People personalities, they said. So they tried out with me. I'm a personality prototype. You can tell can't you?"

1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Chapter 11:


Dheeraj

A male given name from Hindi, meaning “patience”.


inner

outer

antonym(s) of “One who supports remaining in the EU”

From Middle English inner, ynner, ynnere, from Old English innera, comparative of inne (“within”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁en.

(UK politics) One who supports remaining in the European Union.


Jose

From Spanish/Portuguese José, from Hebrew. Doublet of Joseph.

A male given name from Spanish, equivalent to English Joseph, an anglicized spelling of Spanish José and Portuguese José.


Jose

Originally as a diminutive form of Josephine, later also appearing as a given name.

A diminutive of the female given name Josephine.


Lynn

A male given name transferred from the surname, usually used as a middle name.

A female given name transferred from the surname, popular as a middle name.

A female given name, variant of Lyn, popular as a middle name.


Phillipp

A male given name from Ancient Greek, a rare spelling of Philip.


heh

The fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


Irusha

A female given name from Hebrew, a form of Jerusha.

A male given name, a common Sri Lankan name that dates back to 2000 B.C.E..


Isaac

en-proper noun

Isaac (countable and uncountable, plural Isaacs)

From Middle English Ysaac, from Latin Isaac, from Ancient Greek Ἰσαάκ (Isaák), from Hebrew יצחק (Yiṣḥāq, literally “he laughs, he will laugh”). Explained in Genesis as referring to his mother Sarah’s laughing when she was told she would have a son at her old age. The verb is masculine, however, perhaps due to its use as a boy’s name.


Prometheus

From Ancient Greek Προμηθεύς (Promētheús), from πρό (pró, “before”) + μανθάνω (manthánō, “to think”).


Eileen

Anglicized form of Irish Eibhlín, Eilín or Aibhilín, all cognates of Evelyn. Sometimes also used for the Irish name Éibhleann, possibly from Old Irish oíph (“radiance, beauty”).

Come on Eileen / Oh, I swear (What he means) / At this moment / You mean everything

1982, “Come On Eileen”, in Too-Rye-Ay, performed by Dexys Midnight Runners:


Marie

The French Marie, equivalent of Mary; also an Early New English spelling of Mary, from Middle English Marie. Doublet of Mary.

We are going to call her Marie. For once we are in agreement about something, if for different reasons. I just happen to like the name, it's my second favourite girl's name after Swanhild, it has such a pretty sound. Rasmus, of course, likes it because it can be English and all things English he adores. 'The English can pronounce it,' he says, by which he means they pronounce it "Maar-rie", as in Marie Lloyd whom we've seen on the stage. 'The French can pronounce it too,' I said in my way, 'for what that's worth,' but he doesn't mind what I say at the moment.

1993, Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell). Asta's Book →ISBN, page 105


Tommy

A diminutive of the male given name Thomas.

(uncommon relative to the male given name) A diminutive of the female given name Thomasina.


Tommy

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll

And every night now he played pontoon, that game of the Tommies, with Mrs Bolton, gambling with sixpences.

1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter XV, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:

Meanwhile the Tommies had discovered several large tins of ham in the captured lorry. 'That,' said the big Nazi, 'is for our tea.' 'No,' said a Tommy sergeant-major. 'That's for our tea. For you, chummy, we've kept a nice bit of bull.'

1949, Stephen Peter Llewellyn, Journey Towards Christmas, page 142:

He liked the Germans better than he did the French; but for all that, if he went down the back streets of a night, it was with three or four British Tommies, in case the Jerries weren't as friendly as they made out.

1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 129:

(colloquial) Ellipsis of Tommy Atkins; a typical private in the British army; a British soldier.


Ian

“If you want a Scotch name why don’t you call him Jock?” Macgregor looked disgusted. “Because Jock is not a name, but a diminutive, as everybody knows well. It is the diminutive of John. And John is not a Scots name. The Scots form of that name is Ian. If you want to call him Ian Fetch, I shall say no more”.

1975, Robertson Davies, World of Wonders, →ISBN, page 736:

A male given name from Scottish Gaelic Eòin, equivalent to English John.

Sìne

Jane; John; female Scottish form of from


Catherine

/ˈkæθ(ə)ɹɪn/

From French Catherine, from Ancient Greek Αἰκατερίνη (Aikaterínē), *Ἑκατερίνη (*Hekaterínē), of debated meaning, possibly from ἑκάτερος (hekáteros, “each of the two”), or from the name of the goddess Hecate. The apheresis of the first syllable as well as the spelling with ⟨th⟩ in Latin languages, German and English, is due to a folk etymology, dating from Roman times, which associated the name with the Ancient Greek καθαρός (katharós, “pure”). The name belonged to a 4th-century saint and martyr from Alexandria who was supposedly tortured on the wheel from where the term Catherine wheel originates.

- - - despite of what you say of my fine name, I think my head is so obstinate and inflexible that the name Catherine was well chosen. It suits my character. I was given the name by the late Empress Elisabeth, to whom I owe much; she gave it to me out of affection and out of respect for her mother

1763 Voltaire and Catherine the Great: Selected Correspondence. Voltaire, Catherine, Antony Lentin.(Translation from French.)Publ. Oriental Research Partners,1973

It was named Catherine, but he never called it the name in full, as he had never called the first Catherine short, probably because Heathcliff had a habit of doing so. The little one was always Cathy, it formed to him a distinction from the mother, and yet, a connection with her;

1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

"Is that your given name?" "Not exactly. My father named me Catherine, and my mother nicknamed me Carrie. Nobody calls me Catherine." "Oh, but you're much more a Catherine than a Carrie," observed Peter seriously. "Carrie is simple and mundane; Catherine is complex and beautiful."

1981, Carole Gift Page, Carrie, Bethany House Publishers, published 1994, →ISBN, page 55:

"Yes, Catherine sounds like a lovely name. I like it. My new name will be Catherine." She rolled the name Catherine silently again. The name had character a noble ring to it she really liked it.

2003, Michael O. Gregory, The Dead Years, page 35:


Rama

en:Rama (disambiguation)
en:Rendezvous with Rama

Borrowed from Sanskrit रमा (ramā).
* (Oumuamua): The nickname derives from the similarity of Oumuamua to the fictional object "Rama" in the story Rendezvous with Rama, where that fictional object is named for the goddess.

A female given name from Sanskrit mainly used in India.


Chuvash

An agglutinative language of the Bolgar branch of the Turkic language family and is spoken west of the Ural mountains in central Russia. Chuvash is the native language of the Chuvash people and an official language of Chuvashia. It is spoken by about two million people.

чӑваш чӗлхи

čăvaš čĕlh̬i


Caroline

/ˈkæ.ɹəˌlɪn/

Borrowed in the 17th century from the French form of Carolina, feminine derivative of Carolus, the Latin equivalent of Charles, which came from Middle High German Karl.

- - - gentle Sophias milk your cows, and if you ask a pretty smiling girl at a cottage door to tell you her name, the rosy lips lisp out Caroline. A great number of children, amongst the lower classes, are Carolines. That does not, however, wholly proceed from the love of the appellation; though I believe that a queen Margery or a queen Sarah would have had fewer namesakes.

1830, Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Fourth Series: Cottage Names::

I used to love saying her name. Caroline, with the "i" always long, because to make it short left it sounding like crinoline, a sweat-stained, mothballed Sunday hat pulled from an attic trunk. But Caroline with the "i" long created a sound roughly equivalent to the idea of a girl. The echo of a song in its three syllables, an age-old lyric not yet faded from memory.

1999, Andrew Pyper, chapter 44, in Lost Girls:

A female given name from the Germanic languages.


flapping

en-noun

flapping (countable and uncountable, plural flappings)

(phonology) A phonological process found in many dialects of English, especially American English and Canadian English, by which intervocalic /t/ and /d/ surface as the alveolar flap [ɾ] before an unstressed syllable, so that words such as "metal" and "medal" are pronounced similarly or identically.


oratory

From Middle English oratorie, from Anglo-Norman oratorie, Middle French oratoire, and their source, Late Latin ōrātōrium. Doublet of oratorio.

/ˈɒɹət(ə)ɹi/

By public oratories are meant those attached to monasteries, convents, seminaries, etc., having a public entrance by which the faithful have access to them.

1876, Michael Comerford, The Book of Holy Indulgences […] , page 29:

A Roman Catholic chapel; a building for public or private worship that is not a parish church.


Sam

A diminutive of the male given name Samuel, or rarely of Samson. Also used as a formal given name.

A diminutive of the female given name Samantha.

A Trans-New Guinea language of Papua New Guinea.


Sam

(UK, informal) Synonym of Dicky Sam (“a man from Liverpool”)


interlocutor

From French interlocutoire, from Latin interlocūtōrium.

A decree of the English Court of Chancery is not entitled to more respect in Scotland than a decree (interlocutor) of the Scottish Court of Session in England.

1869, “The Judicial System of Scotland”, in The American Law Register (1852-1891), volume 17, number 5, page 257:


Owen

A male given name from Welsh, an anglicization of Welsh Owain.

A male given name from Irish, an anglicization of Irish Eoghan.


Mario

From Italian and Spanish Mario, both of which coming from Latin Marius.

It's-a me! Mario!

A male given name from Italian or Spanish.


Austin

From Middle English [Term?], from Anglo-Norman Aostin, Austin, a contraction of Old French Agustin, from Latin Augustīnus, from Augustus (literally “majestic”). Doublet of Augustine.

A male given name from Old French, of Anglo-Norman origin.

'He says the business with Austin doing take-and-drive-away, it's a deep compulsion he has, a compulsion to find out his real identity by sampling and testing out various machines.'
'You mean it's the vicar's fault for naming him after a car?'

1986, Hilary Mantel, Vacant Possession, Harper Perennial, published 2006, →ISBN, page 15:

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Crispin

From Latin Crispinus, derivative of the Roman family name Crispus (“curly”).
Alternatively, contraction of Crispus (“hair”) and pinus (“pine”), according to Miraculum Quo Beata Maria Subvenit Guillelmo Crispino


Bridget

English form of the Irish saints' name Brighid, Brigid. Doublet of Bride.

And when Miſtreſſe Briget loſt the handle of her Fan, I took't vpon mine honour thou hadſt it not.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 45:

Of all the beautiful Christian names of women which were in use a century or two ago Brighid (Breed), under the ugly form of Bridget, or still worse, Biddy, and Eiblin under the form of Eveleen, and perhaps Norah, seem to be the only survivals, and they are becoming rarer.

2000, David Pierce, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader, Cork University Press., →ISBN, pages 8–9:


Roxanne

A female given name from Persian; a spelling variant of Roxane, fairly popular since the 1930s.


Colin

Diminutive of Coll, a medieval short form of Nicholas. It has also been used to anglicize Irish Coileán and Scottish Gaelic Cailean.

That iolly shepheard, which there piped, was / Poore Colin Clout (who knowes not Colin Clout?)

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 16:

"My parents," Powell wrote, "were British subjects, and they named me Colin (KAH-lin). Being British, they knew very well how the name was supposed to be pronounced. But when I was a young boy, there was a famous American World War II hero whose name became very popular in the streets of New York City. He was Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr. He was called KOH-lin. My friends in the streets of the South Bronx, who heard Captain Kelly's name pronounced in the radio and by their parents and other adults, began to refer to me by the same pronunciation.

1992, Howard B. Means, Colin Powell, Donald J. Fine, published 1992, →ISBN, page 49:


Yugoslav

en-adj

Yugoslav (comparative more Yugoslav, superlative most Yugoslav)

more Yugoslav (comparative)
most Yugoslav (superlative)

/ˈjuːɡəˌslɑːv/

From Serbo-Croatian Jugoslàvēn, influenced by Slav.

Due to Greek objections, North Macedonia was often referred to as the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" for many years.

A small band of men, all very Yugoslav-looking, were sitting in the bar, talking politics.

1966 March 12, Georgie Anne Geyer, “[Challenges] Georgie Anne Geyer interviews an ex-Nazi SS officer in exile at Earth’s end”, in Dick Griffin, Rob Warden, editors, Done in a Day: 100 Years of Great Writing from The Chicago Daily News, Chicago, Ill.: The Swallow Press Inc., published 1977, →ISBN, page 435:

Titoism was a local variety of Stalinism, very Yugoslav in its nature but also very totalitarian.

1993, Jacek Kurczewski, “Stalinism as Crime”, in The Resurrection of Rights in Poland, Oxford, Oxon: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, page 34:

But most alarming at the assembly in Vladikavkaz was the evident hatred of the Chechens, the lurid talk of Chechen atrocities, and of most of Chechnya being ‘ancient Terek Cossack land’, for which ‘we must fight to the last Cossack, after the glorious example of our ancestors’ – all very Yugoslav.

1998, Anatol Lieven, “Failure of the Serbian Option, 1: The Collapse of the ‘Cossacks’”, in Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, part II (The Russian Defeat), page 229:

Milka also spoke of her sister’s reaction to the collapse of the former Yugoslavia and ongoing media reports of the conflict. The participant’s sister was, before the war: / … very Yugoslav, she adored Yugoslavia and that’s why she’s so hurt.

2000, Nicholas G. Procter, “The Experience of Long Distance Devastation: Globalisation of Worry”, in Serbian Australians in the Shadow of the Balkan War, Aldershot, Hants., Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, →ISBN, page 128:

In the summer of 1991, in the disputed areas of Croatia, the army vainly searched for an aim to justify its existence. It fought a war against Croatian independentists on behalf of a Serbian ‘Yugoslav’ leadership which had not officially entered a war that was not declared, and allowed outside gangs to do most of the dirty work. It did this allegedly to save Yugoslavia. In the process the very mixed and very Yugoslav town of Vukovar was destroyed before it fell, Dubrovnik was blockaded and shelled, and its surroundings were pillaged by military units and volunteers from Montenegro.

2002, Stevan K[osta] Pavlowitch, “Serbia in Darkness – The Milošević Years: the 1990s”, in Serbia: The History behind the Name, London: Hurst & Company, →ISBN, page 207:

“Tm afraid I’m not really one for reading the future in coffee grounds,” she said. “I’m not very Yugoslav. Though I enjoy when other people do it.”

2015, Alen Mattich, The Heart of Hell (a Marko della Torre novel), Toronto, Ont.: Spiderline, House of Anansi Press Inc., →ISBN, page 131:

(historical) Of, relating to, or characteristic of Yugoslavia or Yugoslavs.


Yugoslav

/ˈjuːɡəˌslɑːv/

He considered himself to be a Yugoslav first and foremost, regardless of his Croat and Serb ancestry.

(historical) A native or inhabitant of Yugoslavia.


Yugoslav

/ˈjuːɡəˌslɑːv/

He is an educated man, speaking English, French, Spanish, Yugoslav, Russian and German, and he saw service in the Army and understands espionage.

2002, Graeme Mount, chapter 3, in Personal Secretary’s File, Bowers to Welles, 16 March 1942, quoted in Chile and the Nazis, Black Rose Books, →ISBN, page 70:

(dated, otherwise by extension, nonstandard) Serbo-Croatian


oracle

From Middle English oracle, from Old French oracle m, from Latin ōrāculum n.

The oracles are dumb; / No voice or hideous hum / Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.

1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:

A shrine dedicated to some prophetic deity.

A person such as a priest through whom the deity is supposed to respond with prophecy or advice.

оракул

priest through whom deity provides prophecy or advice

And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 6:19:

Siloa's brook, that flow'd / Fast by the oracle of God.

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

(Jewish antiquity) The sanctuary, or most holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself.


Roxy

A diminutive of the female given names Roxana, Roxane, and Roxanne.


toponym

Back-formation from toponymy. By surface analysis, topo + -nym.

As we celebrate one hundred years of official 'standardization' of Canadian toponyms, this would be an appropriate time to reflect upon the state of toponyms used by the Aboriginal people of Canada.

2003, William C. Wonders, Canada's Changing North, →ISBN, page 207:

Conquests were recorded using toponyms that refer to specific cities or locations, and war captives were identified by their place of origin.

2006, Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler, The Ancient Maya, →ISBN, page 714:

If ביתדוד of the Tel Dan Inscription did originate with a temple of some kind, then we must interpret the ‘’’toponym’’’ as meaning 'House of (the) Patron'. Thus, although the toponym ביתדוד in the Tel Dan Inscription can be connected indirectly with a deity, such a connection is not demanded by the toponym itself.

2006, George Athas, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Introduction, →ISBN:


Shravas

A male given name from Sanskrit, meaning “fame” or “to be heard” used in India; It is very uncommon.


convent

From Middle English convent, variant of covent, from Old French covent, from Latin conventus, perfect participle of the verb convenio (whence ultimately convene), see con- + venio. Doublet of coven.

A religious community whose members live under strict observation of religious rules and self-imposed vows.

One seldom finds in Italy a spot of ground more agreeable than ordinary that is not covered with a convent.

1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

The buildings and pertaining surroundings in which such a community lives.

(now especially) Synonym of nunnery, a female religious community and its residence.

nunnery

A gathering of people lasting several days for the purpose of discussing or working on topics previously selected.


Tatar

An agglutinative language belonging to the Altai group of Turkic languages. It is an official language of Tatarstan. There are some eight million speakers spread across Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia.


Tatar

A person belonging to one of several Turkic, Tatar-speaking ethnic groups in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia.


Steve

Shortening of various names ultimately derived from Latin Stephanus m, from Ancient Greek Στέφανος m (Stéphanos) from στέφανος m (stéphanos, “crown, wreath”)

His first name was probably Steve or Ed. No, there were no more Steves or Eds in New York. They were now Steven or Edward, whether they were gay or straight. If they had money, they didn't have a nickname. Everybody was into high seriousness, so that now even dogs were named Humphrey and Raphael.

1989, Ann Beattie, Picturing Will, Random House, →ISBN, page 67:

A diminutive of the male given name Steven and Stephen; also used as a formal male given name.

Allison made a careful note of the address and within the hour she had met, decided she liked, and moved in with a girl of twenty who called herself Steve Wallace.
"Don't call me Stephanie", Steve had said. "I don't know why it should, but being called Stephanie always makes me feel like something pale and dull out of Jane Austen."

1956, Grace Metalious, Peyton Place, UPNE, published 1999, →ISBN, Book Three, Chapter 13:

A diminutive of the female given name Stephanie.


Brenna

An American coinage used since the 1970s, possibly based on the male given name Brennan or Brendan.


Dustin

Probably from Old Norse Þorsteinn (“Thor's stone”).

A male given name from the Germanic languages (very rarely also given to women).


Frederick

From German Friedrich, Friederich and influenced by Latin Friderīcus, Frederīcus, from Old High German Fridurih, from Frankish *Friþurīk, from Proto-Germanic *Friþurīks (“peace king, peaceful ruler”).

der

Have you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of Frederick, the great soldier who miscarried at sea?

When I referred to the confusion which would result from the presence in the house of two people with the same name, she tossed her head and said it would be easy to obviate that by calling me Frederick instead of Fred. - - - Imagine Harry Bolles and other kindred spirits calling me stiff, august Frederick! I vowed that this should not be brought to pass - - -

1892, Robert Grant, The Reflections of a Married Man, Scribner, pages 98–99:

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Jackson

en-proper noun

Jackson (countable and uncountable, plural Jacksons)

Francis was named for his mother's father and Jackson himself was named for his father's mother. Not that his grandmother was called Jackson, of course - it was a maiden name (Margaret Jackson) and it was a Scottish tradition, his father informed him.

2004, Kate Atkinson, Case Histories, →ISBN, page 158:

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Gurjit

A male given name from Sanskrit used by Sikhs.


Patrick

en-prop

Patrick (countable and uncountable, plural Patricks)

[ˈpʰæ.t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪk̚]

From Middle English Patrick, from Latin Patricius (“patrician”), the name of an early Irish saint. Doublet of Paddy.

Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence, too.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

- Are unusual names nice?
- Yes.
- Then why am I called Patrick?
She laughed but only for a little bit. She smiled at me, I think to make sure that I knew she wasn't laughing at me.
- Because your daddy's called Patrick, she said.
I liked that, being called after my da.
- There are five Patricks in our class, I said.
- Is that right?
- Patrick Clarke. That's me. Patrick O'Neill. Patrick Redmond. Patrick Genocci. Patrick Flynn.
- That's a lot, she said. - It's a nice name. Very dignified.
- Three of them are called Paddy, I told her. - One Pat and one Patrick.

1993, Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, page 138:


gurdwara

From Punjabi ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ (gurduārā), ਗੁਰਦਵਾਰਾ (gurdavārā).


Mervyn

Welsh Merfyn, probably from mer (“marrow”) (from Proto-Brythonic *mer) + myn (“eminent”) (compare Irish mín (“smooth, elegant, courteous”)).

cog

Mervyn, in the meantime, had had his solitary meal in the famous back parlour of the Phoenix, where the newspapers lay, and all comers were welcome.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:


Kermit

Variant of English and Manx Kermode, cognate with Irish Mac Diarmata (“son of Dermot”). Popularised in the US by the naming of Kermit Roosevelt (after a Manx ancestor).
Computing sense named after the Sesame Street character, but later provided with a backronym ("KL10 Error-Free Reciprocal Microprocessor Interchange over TTY").

(chiefly US) A male given name from Manx.


what's the good of

You can't do anything about it, so what's the good of crying?

(idiomatic) What is the purpose or advantage of


Welshman

From Middle English Walishman, equivalent to Welsh + -man.

Coordinate term: Welshwoman

A man who is a native or inhabitant of Wales.


pet name

My boyfriend won't let me call him by his pet name, Pookie, in public.

A nickname, especially a name used by those in love with one another.


what do you know

Near-synonym: who would have thunk it

Well, what do you know, it's raining again.

(colloquial, set phrase, rhetorical question, often sarcastic) What a surprise; guess what.


Athirne

(Irish mythology) Athairne the Importunate, a poet and a satirist of the court of Conchobar mac Nessa in the Ulster Cycle and foster-father of Amairgin mac Echit.


Findchoem

Conall the Victorious
Conall the Victorious

(Irish mythology) Princess of Ulster. Wife of Amairgin mac Echit and sister of Conchobar mac Nessa. Mother of Conall the Victorious.


Achall

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the daughter of Cairbre Nia Fer; committed suicide after her brother Erc was killed by Conall Cernach.


Briccriu

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology: a warrior, poet, and troublemaker who once held a lavish feast for Conchobar mac Nessa and the heroes of Ulster in his house at Dún Rudraige.


Fedelm Noíchrothach

The daughter of Conchobar mac Nessa who married Cairbre Nia Fer but was unfaithful to him. Cousin of Conall the Victorious. Mother of Erc and Achall.


Cimbáeth

(Irish mythology) One of the three High Kings of Ireland, who ruled in rotation with Áed Ruad and Díthorba, each ruling seven years in turn and ruling for three seven year period. He died of plague at Emain Macha.


Díthorba

(Irish mythology) One of the three High Kings of Ireland, who ruled in rotation with Áed Ruad and Cimbáeth, each ruling seven years in turn and for three seven-year periods.


Erc

From Old Irish Erc (modern Irish Earc), a word for which the electronic Dictionary of the Irish language gives several meanings, but the most likely meaning for the name is "spotted, speckled, motley," from Proto-Celtic *ɸerkos (“perch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“colored”).

(Irish mythology) A member of the conspiracy that killed Cúchulainn, but was killed by his second cousin Conall the Victorious. Son of Cairbre Nia Fer and brother of Achall.


Finnbhennach

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, an extremely fertile stud bull owned by king Ailill mac Máta. He was originally one of Bodb Dearg's pig-keepers, who fell out with one of his colleagues.


Áed Ruad

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland who ruled in rotation with his cousins Díthorba and Cimbáeth, each ruling for seven years in turn.


Lewis

en-proper noun

Lewis (countable and uncountable, plural Lewises)

From Middle English Lewis, Lowis, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French Louis, from Frankish *Hlūdawīg. Doublet of Louis.


Samuel

From Latin Samūēl, from Ancient Greek Σαμουήλ (Samouḗl), from Biblical Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל (šəmûʾēl, literally “name of God”) https://www.etymonline.com/word/samuel. It is also taken to mean "heard by God" or "asked of God."
According to 1 Samuel 1:20, the Biblical judge and prophet was given this name due to its similarity to a Hebrew word that means "heard by God."

der

It was quite unnecessary to call Samuel Weller; for Samuel Weller stepped briskly into the box the instant his name was pronounced; and placing his hat on the floor, and his arms on the rail, took a bird’s–eye view of the Bar, and a comprehensive survey of the Bench, with a remarkably cheerful and lively aspect. ‘What’s your name, sir?’ inquired the judge. / ‘Sam Weller, my Lord,’ replied that gentleman. / ‘Do you spell it with a “V” or a “W”?’ inquired the judge. / ‘That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my Lord,’ replied Sam; ‘I never had occasion to spell it more than once or twice in my life, but I spells it with a “V.” ’ / Here a voice in the gallery exclaimed aloud, ‘Quite right too, Samivel, quite right. Put it down a “we,” my Lord, put it down a “we.”’

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 34”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

I went down the dark road between the hawthorn hedges puzzling over the why of like, repeating SAMUEL to myself and aloud and listening to the rolling wonder in its sound that had charmed her soul and led her life in tragic places. SAMUEL! There was a rolling wonder in the sound. Aye, there was!

1914, Jack London, The Strength of the Strong/Samuel:


Karl

→ Cebuano: Karl, Carl

From German and North Germanic (Scandinavian) Karl, from Germanic. Doublet of Charles.

A male given name from the Germanic languages, equivalent to English Charles.


Australian English

Prior to the 1980s, Australian English had been widely deprecated by Australians themselves, principally as a result of a sense of inferiority known as "cultural cringe".

2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 295:

The form of the English language used in Australia.


Nipponese

From Nippon (romanized version of 日本, the native Japanese name for Japan) + -ese.


Angela

Feminine form of Church Latin Angelus, from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger, angel”).

Faire Angela (quoth she) men do her call, / No whit lesse faire, then terrible in fight: / She hath the leading of a Martiall / And mighty people, dreaded more then all / The other Saxons, which do for her sake / And love, themselves of her name Angles call.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 56:

And the child was named Angela for the Angelus which rang the midnight hour, the New Year, the minute of her coming and because she was a little angel anyway.
ibid., page 39:
The man says his name is Mr. Dimino and that's his wife, Angela, behind the counter. I tell him that's my mother's name. No kiddin', kid. Your mother is Angela? I didn't know the Irish had any Angelas.

1996, Frank McCourt, chapter I, in Angela's Ashes, HarperCollins., →ISBN, page 5:


Franklin

en-prop

Franklin (countable and uncountable, plural Franklins)

From Middle English frankelein (“freeholder”), see franklin. The place names are mostly named after American statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790).

named-after

A male given name transferred from the surname, partly in honor of Benjamin Franklin.


recognition

en-noun

recognition (usually uncountable, plural recognitions)

/ˌɹɛkəɡˈnɪʃən/

From Latin recognitionem (accusative of recognitio), from stem recognit, past participle of recognoscere.

(Scots law, historical) A return of the feu to the superior.


Hymie

A diminutive of the male given name Hyman.


Alfred

→ Danish: Alfred

Esperanto: Alfredo

Faroese: Alfred

→ Finnish: Alfred

French: Alfred

→ German: Alfred

Greek: Αλφρέδος (Alfrédos)

Italian: Alfredo

Norman: Alfred

→ Norwegian: Alfred

Portuguese: Alfredo

desctree

Spanish: Alfredo
Cebuano: Alfredo
Tagalog: Alfredo

→ Swedish: Alfred

From Middle English Alfred, from Old English Ælfrǣd, from ælf (“elf”) + rǣd (“counsel”). Doublet of Alfredo and Avery.
The modern pronunciation with /f/ is a spelling pronunciation; the name in Old English was pronounced with [v], as shown in its Middle English descendant Alured (in which u stands for modern v).

Unfortunately for me my father had combined diplomacy with a study of Anglo-Saxon history and, of course with my mother's consent, he gave me the name of Alfred, one of his heroes ( I believe she had boggled at Aelfred ). This Christian name, for some inexplicable reason, had become corrupted in the eyes of our middle-class world; it belonged exclusively now to the working class and was usually abbreviated to Alf. Perhaps that was why Doctor Fisher, the inventor of Dentophil Bouquet, never called me anything but Jones, even after I married his daughter.

1980, Graham Greene, Doctor Fisher of Geneva, or the Bomb Party (fiction), →OCLC:

You give a kid a name like Cameron / or Alfred, or something like that, / and they end up wearing glasses / and looking at computers for the rest of their life.

1998, Steven Herrick, A Place Like This (fiction), University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 86:


onomastics

1936, from the adjective onomastic (“of or belonging to naming”) (1716) with a suffix -s, from French onomastique, from Ancient Greek ὀνομαστικός (onomastikós), from ὀνομαστός (onomastós, “named”), form of ὀνομάζω (onomázō, “I name”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”) (whence English name).

Her father had long been a student of onomastics, and loved to unpack the names of people they encountered as children.

2024, Susie Dent, Guilty By Definition, Zaffre, page 65:

The branch of lexicology devoted to the study of names and naming, especially the origins of names.


whoa

Whoa (c. 1843) is a variant of woa (c. 1840), itself a variant of wo (c. 1787), from who (c. 1450), ultimately from Middle English ho, hoo (interjection), probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare German ho, Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”).

der

Whoa, are you serious?

Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?

1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox):

Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA.
Moss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA!
Jen: It means "personal assistant".
Moss: Thank you. Right, OK.

2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 2, episode 6:


toponymy

en-noun

toponymy (countable and uncountable, plural toponymies)

(semantics) Lexicological study of place names; a branch of onomastics.


ya

A letter of the Cyrillic alphabet: Я, я.


Marsha

"I hate my name, too," offered four-year-old Marsha, who until that moment had never thought about her name.
"No, you don't." Mom. "It's a lovely name."
"Is not." But in fact, like most people, she had no particular feelings about her name - her first name, anyhow - but simply accepted it as hers.

2005, John Barth, Where Three Roads Meet: Novellas, →ISBN, page 83:

A female given name from Latin, variant of Marcia.


irritate

en-verb

irritate (third-person singular simple present irritates, present participle irritating, simple past and past participle irritated)

irritates (present singular third-person)
irritating (participle present)
irritated (participle past)
irritated (past)

From Latin irritātus, past participle of irritō (“I invalidate, annul”), from irritus (“invalid”), negation of ratus (“valid, established, fixed”).

/ˈɪɹ.ɪˌteɪt/

c. 1634-1661 John Bramhall, Protestants' Ordination Defended
Are human laws presently superfluous, so often as they do not irritate or abrogate Divine laws ?

(transitive, obsolete, Scots law) To render null and void.


Koine

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Κοινή (Koinḗ), from ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος (hē koinḕ diálektos, “the common dialect”), from κοινός (koinós, “shared, common, public, general, ordinary, usual”).

bor+

The “common” Greek language that developed and flourished between 300 B.C.E. and 300 C.E. (the time of the Roman Empire), and from which Modern Greek descended. It was based on the Attic and Ionian dialects of Ancient Greek.


facility

en-noun

facility (countable and uncountable, plural facilities)

From Middle French facilité, and its source, Latin facilitās. Doublet of faculty. Also see facile.

(Scots law) A condition of mental weakness less than idiocy, but enough to make a person easily persuaded to do something against their better interest.


Archibald

From Old English Arcebald, Arcenbald or Ercenbald, from Old French Archaunbault, from Proto-West Germanic *Erknabalþ, from *erkn (“pure, holy, genuine, precious”) + *balþ (“strong, bold”).

af

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Carla

A female given name from the Germanic languages borrowed from Italian or German.


purdah

en-noun

purdah (countable and uncountable, plural purdahs)

Borrowed from Hindustani پردہ / पर्दा (pardā), and its etymon Classical Persian پرده (pardah, “curtain; screen; (archaic) veil”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”).

der

Despite Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris's reassurance that "the White Paper is coming" it was further delayed by the period of purdah that preceded local elections held on May 6.

2021 June 2, “Network News: ‘Root and Branch’ Review Three Years in the Making”, in Rail, number 932, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10:

(countable, UK politics) The period between the announcement of an election or referendum and its conclusion, during which civil servants refrain from making policy announcements or taking actions that could be seen as advantageous to certain candidates in the election.


Taylor

"I wanted to call her Taylor, but my husband said no," Sweetie was telling one of the Christmas party guests.
"Taylor means a tailor," I said. "It seems inauspicious. Like calling her Cobbler."
"That's a kind of drink," said Nani.

2001, Paul Theroux, Hotel Honolulu, page 206:

A unisex given name transferred from the surname.


Archie

→ Scottish Gaelic: Eairdsidh

A diminutive of the male given name Archibald, from the Germanic languages, also used as a formal given name.


Angie

A diminutive of the female given name Angela.


Clark

From Old English clerc (“clergyman; learned man”), whence also clerk.

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Lawrence

en-proper noun

Lawrence (countable and uncountable, plural Lawrences)

"I named him Lawrence. After my father. Pete, that's my husband, he never really liked the name Lawrence. He thought it wasn't very..." she shut her eyes for a moment, shaking her head slowly, "...very masculine." She opened her eyes and smiled ruefully. " That's a good one, isn't it?"

2003, Elise Title, Inside Out: A Mystery, St.Martin's Minotaur, published 2003, →ISBN, page 69:

A male given name from Latin, the usual spelling of Laurence in the U.S.; masculine of Lauren


Nate

A diminutive of the male given names Nathan, Nathanael and Nathaniel, and also a female given name Natalie.


Voynichese

From Voynich + -ese, named after Polish book dealer Wilfrid Voynich (Polish Wojnicz).

named-after

The language in which the Voynich manuscript is ostensibly written.


Condere

A male given name from Irish, borne by an Ulster warrior renowned for his eloquence in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Luír Cheltchair

(Irish mythology) The spear wielded by Celtchar. Its lust for blood is so great that it has to be dipped in a cauldron of poison to control it.


Brig Bretach

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the wife of Celtchar. Her husband Celtchar killed Blaí Briugu for sleeping with her as Blaí Briugu was required to do so by the latter's geas.


Celtchar

(Irish mythology) A leading figure in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology: an Ulster warrior described as tall, grey, and ugly, and who wields a spear called Luír Cheltchair, and who killed Blaí Briugu after the latter slept with his wife Brig Bretach.


Blaí Briugu

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, a wealthy Ulster warrior who kept a hostel. He was killed by Celtchar for sleeping with the latter's wife Brig Bretach.


username

Coordinate term: password

(computing) A person's identification on an individual computer system.

اِسْم مُسْتَخْدِم

a person's identification on an individual computer system


Ferdiad

(Irish mythology) In Irish mythology, Cúchulainn's best friend and foster-brother.


Bruce

From a Norman place name, Brix, of disputed meaning.


Davis

en-prop

Davis (countable and uncountable, plural Davises)


Harvey

From Haerviu, name of a Breton saint, from Old Breton hoiarn (“iron”) + viu (“blazing”). Cognate with modern Breton Haerviu.
In Ireland, used as an anglicisation of Irish Ó hAirmheadhaigh and Ó hEarchaidh.
The civil parish in New Brunswick is probably named in honour of British colonial administrator John Harvey (1778 - 1852).

A male given name from the Celtic languages, in modern use often transferred back from the surname.


Roy

en-proper noun

Roy (countable and uncountable, plural Roys)

→ French: Roy

→ Norwegian: Roy

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: Roy

→ Norwegian Bokmål: Roy

→ Swedish: Roy

From various sources:
* Anglo-Norman roy (“king”) a variant of Old French roi, from Latin rēx, rēgem from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs (“ruler, king”). Doublet of Rey.
* Scottish Gaelic ruadh (“red, red-haired”) from Old Irish rúad, from Proto-Celtic *roudos from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-.
* Anglicisation of Bengali রায় (raẏ, surname).

der

- - - The real pity is that the only name William Burton remembers is Roy ...it was a popular name in the fifties and sixties so there were probably quite a few of them."
"Not that popular," said George. "Surely it's Roy Trent?"
"Roy Rogers...Roy Orbison... Roy of the Rovers...Roy Castle..."
"At least one of those was a comic-book character," said Andrew.
"So? Bill Clinton and David Beckham named their children after places. All I'm saying is we can't assume Roy Trent from Roy."

2003, Minette Walters, Disordered Minds, Macmillan., →ISBN, page 173:

(countable) A male given name from Scottish Gaelic.


Allen

en-proper noun

Allen (countable and uncountable, plural Allens)

A male given name from the Celtic languages, a variant of Alan; in modern use often transferred from the surname.


Pete

A diminutive of the male given name Peter


tribal

en-adj

tribal (comparative more tribal, superlative most tribal)

more tribal (comparative)
most tribal (superlative)

From Latin tribālis. By surface analysis, tribe + -al, first attested in the 1630s.

social order through tribal law

a tribal society

Based on or organized according to tribes.

tribal

based on or organized according to tribes


tribal

This right had been accepted by relative tribals but misobeyed and effaced by non-tribals and foreign peasants.

1983, Human Science: Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India, page 141:

[…] the legendary Adivasi leader Jaipal Singh Munda who came to represent the tribals not just of his native plateau, but also of all of India […]

2018, Vaijayanta Anand, Geeta Balakrishnan, Purnima George, Community Practices in India: Lessons from the Grassroots, page 66:


Charlotte

From French Charlotte in the 17th century, female diminutive form of Charles, from Middle High German Karl, which came from the Germanic *karlaz.
The civil parish is named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744 - 1818). Coined by British-Dutch surveyor Samuel Holland.

coin

My Charlotte conquers with a smile, / And reigneth queen of love.
In the home-circle and among her companions, Charlotte lays aside her queenship and becomes a gentle Lottie.

1852 August, D. H. Jacques, “A Chapter on Names”, in The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XL, page 117:

"Here's Totty! By-and-by, what's her other name? She wasn't christened Totty." "Oh, sir, we call her sadly out of name. Charlotte's her christened name. It's a name i' Mr. Poyser's family; his grandmother was named Charlotte. But we began calling her Lotty, and now it's got to Totty. To be sure it's more like a name for a dog than a Christian child."

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter VII, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

'Can I call you Charlotte?'
'No. I hate the name, makes me sound like a Victorian aunt. I'm Charlie, and no, you can't call me that either.'

2007, Sophie Hannah, Hurting Distance, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 225:


Ted

Shortened form of Edward, Theodore, Thaddeus or Edmund.

A nickname for the male given names Edward, Theodore, Thaddeus, and Edmund.

泰德

diminutive of Edward, Theodore, Thaddeus, or Edmund


Johnny

From John + -y. In the sense of an Englishman, compare John Bull.

A diminutive of the male given name John.

Janie

similar diminutives that derive from Jane, which derives from John


Miami

Miami
Miami (disambiguation)
en:Lake Okeechobee
en:Mayaimi
en:Miami River (Florida)

From Mayaimi, one of only ten words recorded from the language of the now-extinct Mayaimi people, meaning "big water", referring to the large lake on whose shores they lived, alternately called Lake Miami, Lake Mayimi, Lake Maymi, Lake Maimi; now called Lake Okeechobee. The Florida city is named for the Miami River. The river is named for its source, Lake Miami.

Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County#English

A city, the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Ellipsis of Miami River.; A river in Miami-Dade County, Florida, a river flowing past the city of Miami, Dade.


Irish Gaelic

/ˌaɪɹɪʃ ˈɡeɪlɪk/

the Gaelic language indigenous to Ireland, commonly called Gaeilge or Irish


Wes

A diminutive of the male given name Wesley.


Wesley

Several places in England, from Old English west (“west”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”). Equivalent to west + -ley (“lea”).

A male given name transferred from the surname, of 18th century and later usage, today often without any religious connotations.


visitor

Partly from Middle English visiter, visitere, equivalent to visit + -er; and partly from Middle English visitour, from Anglo-Norman visitour, from Old French visetëor.

5: Of course there is always the remote (I hope) possibility that instant panic will prompt us to send a hailstorm of nuclear warheads out upon the visitor.

1979, Chris Boyce, Extraterrestrial Encounter: a Personal Perspective, Chartwell Books, page 184:

When we ask what evidence does in fact exist of extraterrestrial sojourns on our planet, we can start with what would surely be the best evidence of all: an actual visitor, or group of visitors, visible to crowds of people and ready for photo opportunities, television interviews, handshakes, polite conversation, and dancing.

2001, Donald Goldsmith, Tobias C. Owen, The Search for Life in the Universe, University Science Books, page 511:

The visitor in Man Facing South-east claims pure altruism; Rantes (Hugo Soto) wants to alleviate the suffering of the poor and helpless.

2004, Carol Schwartz Ellis, Sean Redmond (editor), With Eyes Uplifted: Space Aliens as Sky Gods in Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader, Wallflower Press, page 145

The tower radioed the flight leader, Captain Thomas F. Mantell, Jr., and requested that he engage and attempt to identify the strange visitor.

2007, Frank G. Wilkinson, The Golden Age of Flying Saucers: Classic UFO Sightings, Saucer Crashes and Extraterrestrial Contact Encounters, Lulu.com, page 37:

(ufology, specifically) An extraterrestrial being on Earth.


Avestan

An ancient Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta.


Californian

And almost five million Californians voted Republican.

2015 November 9, “Why The Electoral College Ruins Democracy” (00:02:13 from the start), in Adam Ruins Everything (television production), spoken by himself (Adam Conover), truTV, via truTV:

United States of America
United States of America

A native or resident of the state of California in the United States of America.


Navajo

From Spanish navajo, from Tewa navahu (“field adjoining an arroyo”).

der

An Apachean (Southern Athabaskan) language of the Athabascan language family belonging to the Na-Dené phylum. It is spoken by 149,000 people in the American Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado).


Victorian

en-adj

Victorian (comparative more Victorian, superlative most Victorian)

more Victorian (comparative)
most Victorian (superlative)

From Victoria + -an (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns), from the name of Queen Victoria (1819–1901), monarch of the United Kingdom.

ვიქტორიანული

of or relating to the culture or social conditions of that period

From the platforms at Wapping or Rotherhithe you can see the tunnel fleetingly illuminated as the trains approach; it looks so incredibly Victorian that you expect to see Jack the Ripper loitering between the arches.

2012, Andrew Martin, “Deeper”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, page 93:

One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city's effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.

2014 June 14, “It’s a gas: It is possible to sniff out problems in sewer pipes before they happen”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-10-28:

Of or relating to the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, or that period.

فيكتوري

of or relating to the reign of Queen Victoria or that period


Victorian

It was not until the late 1800s when older members of New York society, aghast at the invasion of vulgar "new money," devised a daunting system of social rules – not to mention silverware – meant to repel anyone of humble origins who dared to sit down at one of their twelve-course dinners. It was the Victorians who gave us such useful implements as the strawberry knife.

2008 May 29 – June 4, Aimee Levitt, “St. Louis’ etiquette masters tell us how to mind our manners”, in Riverfront Times, St. Louis, Mo.: Euclid Media Group, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-02, page 20:

The arrival of the railway turned this isolated fishing village into a popular seaside destination for Victorians who came to breathe fresh sea air, clear their lungs or take the waters.

2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: The Nation’s Finest Stations: Grange-over-Sands”, in Rail, number 948, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27:

A person born in or living in the Victorian period, or exhibiting characteristics of that period.

викторианец

The commercial resurgence brought about by the area's changing tastes is reflected in midtown's conglomeration of refurbished Victorians, apartments, specialty shops, offices, corner groceries, restaurants, single-family homes, and bed and breakfast inns.

1987, Faren Maree Bachelis, “Downtown Sacramento”, in The Pelican Guide to Sacramento and the Gold Country (A Firebird Press Book), Gretna, New Orleans, La.: Pelican Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 86:

(chiefly US, architecture) A house built in the Victorian architectural style.


Victorian

From Victoria (“capital of British Columbia, Canada”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); incorporated as a city in 1862, the settlement which preceded the city was named Fort Victoria after Queen Victoria in 1843.

(Canada) Of, or native or relating to, the city of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, Canada.


Victorian

(Canada) A person from the city of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, Canada.


Hamilton

en-proper noun

Hamilton (countable and uncountable, plural Hamiltons)

Translingual: ℍ

From Old English Hameldūne, from hamel (“blunt, flat-topped”) + dūne (“hill”). The Scottish surname is from the place in Leicestershire.

咸美頓

name of various cities in English-speaking countries

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Darlington

/ˈdɑːlɪŋtən/

-ɑː(ɹ)lɪŋtən

From Middle English Dearnington, Derlinton, from Old English Dearthingtun, supposedly “the settlement of Deornoth's people”, from an unclear root + -ing + -tun. The transistor configuration is named for its inventor, Sidney Darlington.

(rare, chiefly Africa) A male given name transferred from the surname.


fane

From Middle English fane, from Old English fana (“cloth, banner”), from Proto-West Germanic *fanō, from Proto-Germanic *fanô (“cloth, flag”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“to weave; something woven; cloth, fabric, tissue”). Doublet of fanon and vane.

der

The ſteeple had become old and ruinous; and therefore the preſent one was built about the year 1740. It had, at that time, four fanes mounted on ſpires, on the four corners; theſe being judged too weak for the fanes, were taken down in 1764, and the roof of the ſteeple altered.

1801, John Baillie, An Impartial History of the Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne, page 541:

(obsolete) A weathercock, a weather vane.


adherence

en-noun

adherence (countable and uncountable, plural adherences)

From Middle French adhérence, from Latin adhærentia.

(Scots law) The fulfilment of the legal obligation of residing with wife or husband.


Maurice

From Middle English Maurice, from Late Latin Mauritius, derived from Maurus (“Moor; dark, swarthy”). Popularized by a 3rd-century Roman soldier martyr.

For some reason I am a man known by his surname; I might never have been christened for all the use my friends make of the rather affected Maurice my literary parents gave me.

1951, Graham Greene, The End of the Affair, Viking Press, page 5:

A male given name from Latin, equivalent to English Morris.


Akkadian

Of or pertaining to the Akkadian language of ancient Mesopotamia.

Of or pertaining to the Akkadian Empire.


Akkadian

The now extinct Semitic language of ancient Mesopotamia, formerly used as an international language of diplomacy.


Akkadian

A Semitic inhabitant of the region of Mesopotamia near the city of Akkad.


Nance

A diminutive of the female given name Nancy.


Jerome

From the Old French vernacular form of the saint's name Hieronymus, from Ancient Greek Ἱερώνυμος (Hierṓnumos). Doublet of Hieronymus.


Terran

The magazines, in the nearby rack, were in English. And on their covers, laughing Terrans.

1966, Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Last Year:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of Earth; an earthling, especially a human.


Terran

A hypothetical language spoken throughout all of Earth.


Shuli

A hypocoristic for Shulamith (and possibly Sulamit).

It is co-curated by Shulamith (a.k.a. Shuli) Berger

2003, Esther Nussbaum, chapter IV, in HaSafran - The Electronic Forum of the Association of Jewish Libraries:


Louise

From French Louise, the feminine form of Louis.

Louise, thy stately name sounds in my ear / Like a sea wave, that gathering, hill on hill, / Upon the blue horizon, smooth and still, / Sweeps to the shore

1890 Arthur Weir, John Arthur Lockhart: The Romance of Sir Richard. Published by William Drysdale&Co. page 83

That's what I baptized her. Mary Louise. Everybody else called her just plain Mary, but that wasn't the way I intended it. I intended it Mary Louise. That's a pretty name, isn't it? Mary Louise. Mary is too...plain?

1957, Ed McBain, The Con Man, Armchair Detective Library, published 1991, →ISBN, page 47:

I've always thought I was too large for a soft, musical name like Louise, too untidy.

1991, Emily Ellison, The Picture Makers, G.K.Hall, →ISBN, page 111:


Urartian

The extinct language spoken by the inhabitants of Urartu. Related to Hurrian.


izzard

desc

Hong Kong English: Z (pronounced as /iˈzɛd/ or /ɪˈzɛd/)

From Middle English izod, ezod, ezed, from Old French et zede (literally “and zed”), as spoken when reciting the alphabet.

der

... [Reading.] Dear Sir,—ay, that's that. Then there's an M, and a T, and an S, but whether the next be an izzard, or an R, confound me, I cannot tell.

1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

(Scotland, and archaically in England and Ireland) The letter Z; zed, zee.


Calum

From Scottish Gaelic Calum, from Late Latin Columba (literally “dove”), the name of a sixth century Scottish saint, one of the patron saints of Scotland. Doublet of Colm.


Stanley

From places in England, Old English stān (“stone”) + lēah (“meadow”). Equivalent to stone + -ley (“lea”).
* The given name has also been used as an anglicisation of Stanisław, Stanislav and related names.
The coastal town in Hong Kong is named after Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby.

named-after

A male given name transferred from the surname. Popular in early 20th century.


Gary

en-proper noun

Gary (countable and uncountable, plural Garys)

Medieval short form of Germanic compound names beginning with gari (“spear”)/geri (“spear”), such as Gerard, Gerald, or Gerbert. Cognate with the Scottish and Irish Gaelic name Garaidh.
* The last-century popularity of the given name is due to the American actor Gary Cooper (1901–1961), whose stage name was invented by his agent, a native of Gary, Indiana.

Dressed up like a million dollar trooper / Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper

1930, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “Puttin' On The Ritz”:

"Gary's an awful name. Whatever he's like. It reminds me of a G.I. man with a crew cut, and 'Mom' tattooed on his chest, and lots of pin-up pictures on his wall."

1964, Anne Tyler, If Morning Ever Comes, Severn House, published 1983, page 52:

A male given name transferred from the surname, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s.


Stewart

Stewart (countable and uncountable, plural Stewarts)


Jacques

A male given name from French borrowed from French.


Larry

No one gets named Larry anymore. It's had it as a name. Think of someone called Larry and you automatically conjure up a guy drinking beer in a sixties rec room.

1998, Carol Shields, Larry's Party, Penguin, →ISBN, page 254:

"Larry, name's Larry." I smiled, it was too ridiculous. He was worried about me calling him Lawrence instead of Larry with a rogue zombie climbing out of the dirt.

2002, Laurell K. Hamilton, Circus of the Damned, JOVE, →ISBN, page 149:

A diminutive of the male given name Laurence or Lawrence, popular as a male given name in the U.S. in the 1940s and the 1950s.


Madison Avenue

From Madison Avenue, a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, where advertising boomed in the 1920s.

An avenue in Manhattan, New York, known as the center of the American advertising industry.


Donald

Donald (countable and uncountable, plural Donalds)

⇒ Translingual: donaldtrumpi

Name of Scottish kings and an early saint, from Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall and reinforced by Medieval Latin Donvaldus ~ Donaldus, from Old Irish Domnall, from Proto-Celtic *Dubnowalos (“prince / chief of the world”). Doublet of Domhnall.

der

"Country?" replied Cuddie; "ou, the country's weel eneugh, and it werena that dour deevil, Calver'se, ( they ca' him Dundee now) that's stirring about yet in the Highlands, they say, with a' the Donalds, and Duncans, and Dugalds, that ever wore bottomless breeks, driving about wi' him, to set things asteer again, - - -

1816, Walter Scott, Old Mortality, Samuel H. Parker, published 1836, page 232:

My friends call me Terry. My husband always used my full name, Teresa. He said it made him feel like he was married to a foreign woman. And I never called him Don or Donny or Donny Joe. I called him Donald from the first time we met.

1980, Laura Furman, The Glass House, a Novella and Stories, Viking Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 76:

Donald Duk never liked his name. He hates his name. He is not a duck. He is not a cartoon character. - - - "Only the Chinese are stupid enough to give a kid a stupid name like Donald Duk," Donald Duk says to himself.

1991, Frank Chin, Donald Duk, Coffee House Press, published 1991, →ISBN, page 1:


Augustus

From Latin Augustus, from augustus (“majestic, venerable”). Doublet of august.

A male given name from Latin, risen in popularity since the 18th century.


Margaret

en-proper noun

Margaret (countable and uncountable, plural Margarets)

From the name of a legendary third century saint, from Middle English Margaret, from Old French Margaret (French Marguerite), from Latin Margarita, from Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης (margarítēs, “pearl”), ultimately from an Indo-Iranian source.
The same source, through folk etymology, has produced Old English meregrot (“pearl”, literally “stone or pebble of the sea”), related to Old Saxon merigrita, merigriota (“pearl”), Old High German merigrioz, equivalent to mer- + groat.

cog

Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the king;
But I will rule both her, the king, and realm.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:

Margaret, Marguerite - the pearl! the daisy! Oh name of romance and of minstrelsy, which brings the days of chivalry to mind, and the worship of flowers and ladies fair!

1830, Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Cottage Names:

Amongst us English, the name is a greater favourite than with any other nation: but we have played upon it, and abused it oftener too. In no language does Margaret sound sweeter or homelier than in ours: not so Mag, Maggie, Meg, Madge, Moggie, Peg, Peggy, and abominable Piggy, of which abridgements only the two first are defensible.

1868, Bentley's Miscellany, London, page 417:

The girls from our year were mainly named some version of Shawn. There was Shawna, Dawna, Shawnee, Dawnali, Shalana, and just plain Dawn and Shawn. There was also a girl named Margaret, named after her grandmother, who worked at the post office. I ended up talking with Margaret.

2012, Louise Erdrich, The Round House, Corsair, published 2013, →ISBN, page 292:


alien abduction

en-noun

alien abduction (plural alien abductions)

(ufology) The abduction of a person by extraterrestrials.


Juan

A male given name from Manx or Spanish, equivalent to English John.


Mikhail

From Russian Михаи́л (Mixaíl, “Michael”), from Hebrew מיכאל. Doublet of Michael.

Михаи́л Михаил#Russian

A transliteration of the Russian male given name Михаи́л (Mixaíl).


Misha

A transliteration of the Russian Ми́ша (Míša), a hypocoristic for Михаи́л (Mixaíl), the Russian equivalent of Michael, from Hebrew מיכאל.
Also a female name, presumably analogous to Michelle.


Nawin

Variant of Navin or Naveen, from a Sanskrit word meaning "new". Nawin is also a common name in Indonesia.


Adrian

From Latin Hadrianus (“from the Roman harbor Hadria”) a place name ultimately from Etruscan 𐌇𐌀𐌕𐌓𐌉𐌀 (hatria). Doublet of Hadrian. See Adria.

der

Which, of he, or Adrian, for a good wager, / Firſt begins to crow ?

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

"My only worth will be in always remembering to do the thing that pleases you; and yet, although I don't really like Adie, it has a more home-like, more whisperable sound than Adrian. Adrian is a grand, heroic sort of a name, yet what a beautiful name it is.

1874, Bertha de Jongh, The Sisters Lawless, by the author of Rosa Noel, page 245:

His baptismal register spoke of him pessimistically as John Henry, but he had left that behind with the other maladies of infancy, and his friends knew him under the front-name of Adrian.

I'm afraid neither of us was looking where we were going. We Adrians are notoriously abstracted, are we not?

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section I, page 40:

A male given name from Latin or Etruscan.

(rare) A female given name from Latin (compare Adriana, Adrianna, Adrienne).

A number of places in the United States:

A city in Nobles County, Minnesota, United States.


Friedrich

en-prop

Friedrich (plural Friedrichs or Friedriches)

Friedrichs (plural)
Friedriches (plural)

As it happened, also, the particular Friedrichs and Wilhelms whom he meant to see and confer with were out of town, or had moved their habitats, so that he could not easily find them. […] “I beg your pardon, but can you tell me where Friedrich Baum lives?”

1872 December, Edward E[verett] Hale, “Ups and Downs”, in Old and New, volume VI, number 6, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, […], chapter XXVI, pages 689–690:

The dour Friedrich Wilhelm I, never out of uniform, accumulating tax income from a dozen different unconstitutional sources, takes time out from drilling his grenadiers to smash an inefficient postillion over the head with his cane. The sleepless Friedrich der Grosse, an atheist Calvin, rises at 6 a.m. to write the day’s orders to his bureaucrats, a shining example to the world of “enlightened despotism.” Even the feckless Friedrich Wilhelm III, defeated by a French revolutionary army, appoints a minister to tell him “Your majesty must do from above what the French have done from below.” […] When the king contemplated (God forbid) his abdication on the issue, Bismarck threw himself into the breach, accepted the office of Chancellor, defied the parliament, and collected the tax, just as the Friedrichs and Wilhelms had done before the French Revolution interrupted the course of progress.

1983, William R[omeyn] Everdell, The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans, New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, →ISBN, page 250:

The king’s palace, abode of all the Friedrichs and Wilhelms, had stood there, too, vacated after World War One, discreetly ignored by Hitler, bombed by the Allies in 1945, and finally demolished by the communists.

2001, James Howard Kunstler, The City in Mind: Meditations on the Urban Condition, New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, →ISBN, page 116:

Eventually it [the law faculty] chose Friedrich Julius Stahl (1802–1861) – born Joel Golson (or Jolson). […] Uhlfelder’s activities were also efficient in assuring Joel’s (and other Jews’) admission to the renowned Protestant school, the Wilhelm Gymnasium.⁹⁶ It was there that Joel became acquainted with Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer – the Bannerträger des Neuhumanismus – and with the philosopher and Goethe’s friend Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. Joel also developed a special relationship with Friedrich Wilhelm Tiersch during his Gymnasium years. […] Clearly, his choice of a new name shows what it must have felt like to be a Joel surrounded by so many Friedrichs and Wilhelms.

2013, Reut Yael Paz, “Jews, Universities and International Law”, in A Gateway between a Distant God and a Cruel World: The Contribution of Jewish German-Speaking Scholars to International Law (The Erik Castrén Institute Monographs on International Law and Human Rights; 16), Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →ISBN, section 3 (Jewish Legal Denkstil/Denkkollektiv as Gateways in German Law Faculties), subsection 2 (Friedrich Julius Stahl: The ‘Paul’ of the 19th Century), pages 105–106:

Kaufmann goes so far in this as to state that what happened to two famous Friedriches—Hölderlin and Nietzsche—in their later years (madness and vegetation, respectively) does not really matter since their works had by then been done.

2022, Andrew Oberg, “(Honestly) Facing Finitude”, in The Christ Is Dead, Long Live the Christ: A Philotheologic Prayer, a Hermeneutics of Healing, Eugene, Ore.: Resource Publications, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, part 4 (Temporality: God/“God” Here, “the Kingdom” Now), page 200:

A male given name from German, equivalent to English Frederick.


Early Modern English

The form of the English language written and spoken from the end of the 15th century to the mid-17th century.


backbench

His spacious quarters indicate his transition from backbench upstart to established member of the governing team.

There was no separate back-bench organization ; indeed there were no back-bench caucuses in any Nigerian Legislative House, and any attempt to create one would probably have been regarded by the leadership concerned as a subversive move.

1963, Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation, published 2004, page 400:

Both Thatcher's and Major's PPSs developed the role of trying to see that those members considered loyal to the leadership won the main positions on backbench party committees.

1995, R. L. Borthwick, Churchill to Major: The British Prime Ministership Since 1945, page 153:

In fall 1984, Brian Mulroney led a cabinet with far more political experience than the Conservative backbench.

1997, David Campbell Docherty, Mr. Smith Goes to Ottawa: Life in the House of Commons:

2009, John Coakley, Michael Gallagher, Politics in the Republic of Ireland, page 301,
In situations of low ministerial turnover and increased professionalisation of politics, with most TDs regarding politics as a career, Taoisigh could find that impatience on the backbenches leads to calls for leadership turnover to effect promotions.

A bench at the back of a room or seating area.

(politics, UK, New Zealand, often attributive) In a house of legislature following the model of the Westminster system (such as the UK House of Commons), any bench behind either of the front benches and occupied by rank-and-file members.


American Indian

en-noun

American Indian (plural American Indians)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-American Indian.wav

American + Indian. The noun is attested since 1702, the adjective since shortly thereafter.

A member of some indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially the continental United States, but excluding the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleuts.

(Canada) An indigenous person from the United States.


cis-

From the Latin preposition cis (“on this side of”). The earliest known sexuality-related use of the prefix in any language was in a 1914 German-language book on sexology. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest use of the prefix in the context of gender in English dates from 1994.

quote-book

Lexikon Des Gesamten Sexuallebens

1914, Ernst Burchard, Lexikon Des Gesamten Sexuallebens, Berlin, BV047570799, page 32:
Cisvestitismus, die Neigung, die Kleidung einer anderen Altersstufe, Volks- oder Berufsklasse des gleichen Geschlechts zum Zwecke sexueller Entspannung anzulegen, dem Transvestitismus verwandt (s. Verkleidungstrieb).
Cisvestism, the tendency to don the clothes of a different age group, ethnic group, or profession of the same sex for the purpose of sexual relaxation, related to transvestism (see disguise instinct).

cis- + diazene → cis-diazene

(physical chemistry) Forming names of chemical compounds in which two atoms or groups are situated on the same side of some plane of symmetry passing through the compound.


Brit

1901, either a shortening of Britisher or Briton, or a back-formation from British.

(lexicography) Abbreviation of British English.


Alvin

From Old English Ælfwine, made up of ælf (“elf”) + wine (“friend”).


Rog

A diminutive of the male given name Roger.


Richmond

From Middle English Rychemund, from a name cognate to French Richemont (“town in Normandy”). Equivalent to rich + mound.

A male given name transferred from the surname.


trans-

cis-

antonym(s) of “chemistry, other side/beyond, gender”

Borrowed from Latin trāns (“across, on the far side, beyond”).

bor

transacetylase, tranexamic acid, transaldolase

(physical chemistry) A compound in which two atoms or groups are situated on opposite sides of some plane of symmetry passing through the compound. (Also used without the hyphen as an adjective; see trans.)


Terri

A female given name; a spelling variant of Terry, diminutive of Teresa.


Herbert

→? Cebuano: Herbert

From Old French Herbert, from Frankish *Hari-bercht, from a Proto-Germanic source *Harjaberhtaz, from *harjaz (“army”) + *berhtaz (“bright”).

Herbert, Sydney, Milton, Seymour. You know, all the time I was growing up I thought those were the most ordinary Jewish first names, until someone pointed out that they were British last names. I guess to my great-grandparents those names must have sounded so modern, so sophisticated, so - non-Eastern European. And now they're just Uncle Miltie, Uncle Sy, Uncle Herb. Do other people have Uncle Donne and Uncle Wordsworth?

1989, David Leavitt, Equal Affections, →ISBN, page 215:

A male given name from the Germanic languages. In modern use partly transferred back from the surname.


House of Commons

“House”, in this term, means a deliberative assembly, while “the Commons” stands for “the common people”, as opposed to nobility.

مَجْلِس عُمُوم

lower house in UK or Canadian parliament

When the legislation was debated by the House of Commons, Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said it was "riddled with holes", while former Conservative Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was "badly written".

2024 March 20, Conrad Landin, “"Farcical" Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act isn't working”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 25:

(UK politics) The lower house of the British Parliament.


first language

She was born and raised in France, although her first language is Portuguese because her parents are from Brazil.

Vocabulary is a vital component of educational success in both first and second language contexts.

2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 105:

The first language one is taught to speak; one's native language.


Rolf

From Old Norse Hrólfr, and from its Old French equivalent, cognates of Rudolph. Brought to England by the Normans, survived in surnames and was revived in the 19th century, partly due to its modern Scandinavian cognate.

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Joshua

/ˈd͡ʒɒʃ(j)uːə/

From Biblical Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshúa'), perhaps from הוֹשֵׁעַ (Hoshéa') with addition of יהוה (YHWH, “Yahweh”), thus meaning "Yahweh is salvation". See הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshía', “to save”). By cognate a direct equivalent to Jesus via Latin Iēsus and Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs) from Aramaic יֵשׁוּע (Yēšū́ʿ), akin to Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshúa'), a variant of Yehoshúa'. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament consistently render the two Hebrew names Yehoshúa' (whence Joshua) and Yeshúa' (whence Jeshua) into Koine Greek as Iēsoûs (whence Jesus).

cog

Aramaic יֵשׁוּע (Yēšū́ʿ)

"His father had a notion," observes Malone, on the authority of Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, "that it might at some future period of his life be an advantage to a child to bear an uncommon Christian name, - - - Hence our author derived the scriptural name of Joshua, which, though not very uncommon, occurs less frequently than many others." But another biographer has suggested, with more appearance of reason, that it was probably given to him because an uncle, who was one of his godfathers, bore the same name,

1835, “The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. To Which is Prefixed a Memoir by H.W.Beechey”, in Strand, London: T. Cadell, page 33:


Swiss-German

en-adj

Swiss-German (comparative more Swiss-German, superlative most Swiss-German)

more Swiss-German (comparative)
most Swiss-German (superlative)


Amanda

Derived from Latin Amanda, feminine form of the saint's name Amandus, from amandus, future passive participle of amāre (“to love”): thus meaning "who/which is to be loved". Taken into regular use as an English given name from 18th-century literature.

O there is a sweet era in the life of man, when ( the brain being tender and fibrillous, and more like pap than anything else ) - a story read of two fond lovers, separated from each other by cruel parents, and by still more cruel destiny -
Amandus - He
Amanda - She -
each ignorant of the other's course.

1767 Laurence Sterne: Tristram Shandy: Book VII, Chapter 31

Sue always thought of her offspring as Amanda. Allowing her to name the child had been one of the last indulgences that Brian had seen fit to bestow. Even then he had not the generosity to conceal his displeasure at her choice. Pretentious. Snobbish. Affected. The baby had been 'Mandy' from the day of her birth and, once Brian had really got the hang of high-rise/comprehensive linguistic mores, 'Mand'.

1994, Caroline Graham, Written in Blood, page 35:


Chinese character

en-noun

Chinese character (plural Chinese characters)

There are no Publick Schools in all China (though ſome Writers have erroneouſly ſet forth the contrary) but every perſon chuſes his own Maſter, by whom he is taught in his Houſe, at his own charge. And in regard of the great difficulty in teaching the Chineſe Characters, in reſpect of their vaſt number and variety, it is impoſſible for one to teach many ſeveral perſons ; and therefore every Maſter of a Family takes an Intſructer into his Houſe for his Children, of whom if there be two or three to learn, they are as many as one Tutor can well teach.

1669, John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, page 163:

Had it not been for the casual discovery in the year 1625 of a deeply buried black marble tablet near Hsi-an containing nearly 1,700 Chinese characters, and a long list of names of priests in Syriac, the fact that such a sect rooted itself in the Celestial Empire would never have been believed, as indeed after the tablet was unearthed it was for a long time discredited.

1912, Arthur Henderson Smith, “Uplifting Leaders”, in The Uplift of China, →OCLC, page 117:

Any character used in the written form of several languages of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

кита́йская гра́мота

can also be derogatory, "something unreadable"


Scáthach

(Irish mythology) The female warrior who trains Cúchulainn in the arts of war in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Yumpla Tok

From yumpla a plural personal pronoun in the creole, and tok meaning talk or speech.

a creole of the Torres Strait in Australia.


Wilhelm

Borrowed from German Wilhelm. Doublet of William.

As it happened, also, the particular Friedrichs and Wilhelms whom he meant to see and confer with were out of town, or had moved their habitats, so that he could not easily find them.

1872 December, Edward E[verett] Hale, “Ups and Downs”, in Old and New, volume VI, number 6, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, […], chapter XXVI, page 689:

The dour Friedrich Wilhelm I, never out of uniform, accumulating tax income from a dozen different unconstitutional sources, takes time out from drilling his grenadiers to smash an inefficient postillion over the head with his cane. The sleepless Friedrich der Grosse, an atheist Calvin, rises at 6 a.m. to write the day’s orders to his bureaucrats, a shining example to the world of “enlightened despotism.” Even the feckless Friedrich Wilhelm III, defeated by a French revolutionary army, appoints a minister to tell him “Your majesty must do from above what the French have done from below.” […] When the king contemplated (God forbid) his abdication on the issue, Bismarck threw himself into the breach, accepted the office of Chancellor, defied the parliament, and collected the tax, just as the Friedrichs and Wilhelms had done before the French Revolution interrupted the course of progress.

The king’s palace, abode of all the Friedrichs and Wilhelms, had stood there, too, vacated after World War One, discreetly ignored by Hitler, bombed by the Allies in 1945, and finally demolished by the communists.

Eventually it [the law faculty] chose Friedrich Julius Stahl (1802–1861) – born Joel Golson (or Jolson). […] Uhlfelder’s activities were also efficient in assuring Joel’s (and other Jews’) admission to the renowned Protestant school, the Wilhelm Gymnasium.⁹⁶ It was there that Joel became acquainted with Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer – the Bannerträger des Neuhumanismus – and with the philosopher and Goethe’s friend Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. Joel also developed a special relationship with Friedrich Wilhelm Tiersch during his Gymnasium years. […] Clearly, his choice of a new name shows what it must have felt like to be a Joel surrounded by so many Friedrichs and Wilhelms.

A male given name from German, equivalent to English William.


Lusophone

From Portuguese lusófono (“Portuguese-speaking”), from Lusitania (“the Roman province in what is now Portugal”), in the form of Luso- + -phone.


Indo-Iranian

A branch of the Indo-European language family, including the Indic and Iranian languages.


Parisian

From Middle English Parisien, perisien, from Middle French parisien, from Medieval Latin parisiānus. By surface analysis, Paris + -ian.

Coordinate term: Parisienne

A native, citizen and/or inhabitant of Paris, France


DA

DA (countable and uncountable, plural DAs or DA's)

(UK politics) Initialism of devolved administration.


Cockney

First attested in Samuel Rowland's 1600 The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine as "a Bowe-bell Cockney", from Middle English cokenay (“a spoiled child; a milksop, an effeminate man”), used in the 16th c. by English country folk as a term of disparagement for city dwellers, of uncertain etymology. Possibly from Middle English cokeney (“a small, misshapen egg”), from coken (“cocks'”) + ey (“egg”) or from Cockney and Cocknay, variants of Cockaigne, a mythical land of luxury (first attested in 1305) eventually used as a humorous epithet of London. Compare cocker (“to spoil a child”).

der

(UK) From the East End of London, or London generally.


Nuu-chah-nulth

/nuːˈtʃɑːnʊlθ/

From Nootka nuučaan̓uł (“all along the mountains”).

uder

The polysynthetic Nuu-chah-nulth language, Nootka, which belongs to the Wakashan language group and is still spoken by about 500 people.


Dian Cecht

(Irish mythology) A god of healing. The healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the father of Cian.


Eochaid Sálbuide

(Irish mythology) The king of Ulster prior to the events of the Ulster Cycle in Irish mythology. Father of Ness. He was deposed as High King by Eochaid Feidlech.


Tuatha Dé Danann

From Irish Tuatha Dé Danann (literally “peoples of the goddess Danu”).

bor

(Irish mythology) The fifth group of inhabitants of Ireland according to the Lebor Gabála Érenn tradition, thought to represent the gods of the Goidelic Irish. Their Christian redactors have reduced them to historical kings and heroes.


Reilly

From Irish Ó Raghallaigh, a surname meaning "descendants of Raghallach".

A unisex given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage.


Bernard

From Middle English Bernard, from Old French Bernard, Bernart, from Medieval Latin Bernardus, probably from Frankish *Bernhard (compare Old High German Bernhart, Old English Beornheard), from Proto-Germanic *Bernuharduz, equivalent to bear + -ard. Popularized by medieval European saints.

A similar arrangement was made for her son Bernard, named in honor of the great Carthusian mystic (at least, that is what Jim Gaffney would softly tell Mrs. Kozinski) and of Bernie Astor, the publicist.

1992, Thomas Keneally, Woman of the Inner Sea, Plume, published 1994, →ISBN, pages 18–19:


split infinitive

en-noun

split infinitive (plural split infinitives)

Yeah, Ronnie! (or, the Split Infinitive of the Year, possibly the Century) – on being asked if the New York Times report was true that the 1983 deficit will be $124 billion, rather than the $91.5 billion in the Reagan budget … A: 'I couldn't answer until we have to, by law, shortly, in a couple of weeks, present an updated project.'

1982 April 4, Nick Clarke, quoting Alistair Cooke, “Keeping in Touch”, in Alistair Cooke: A Biography, 1st U.S. edition, New York, N.Y.: Arcade Publishing, published 2000, →ISBN, page 487:

The split infinitive was regrettable, but the writers of Star Trek came up with the phrase to capture the essential idea brought to mind at the mention of the words "frontier" and "pioneer": "to boldly go where no man has gone before."

1994, Patricia Nelson Limerick, “The Adventures of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century”, in James R. Grossman, editor, The Frontier in American Culture: An Exhibition at the Newberry Library, August 26, 1994 – January 7, 1995, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 89:

Such fetishes as insisting on It's I, not ending sentences with prepositions, and avoiding split infinitives are all dismissed as the nonsense they are.

2001, R[obert] L[awrence] Trask, “Introduction”, in Mind the Gaffe: The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English (Penguin Reference Books), London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 17:

(grammar) An infinitive with one or more modifiers inserted between the to and the verb.

disigita infinitivo

an infinitive with one or more modifiers inserted between the to and the verb


Ness

en-proper noun

Ness (countable and uncountable, plural Nesses)

Named after the River Ness, of Celtic/Pictish origin, from a Proto-Celtic word *Nesta describing great currents, according to MacBain, from the same Proto-Indo-European root that gave the river Νέστος (Néstos), possibly *ned- (“water”).

(Irish mythology) An Ulster princess and the mother of Conchobar mac Nessa and Findchoem in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Daughter of Eochaid Sálbuide. Also the mother of Cormac Cond Longas by incest with Conchobar mac Nessa.


Deichtine

(Irish mythology) Female name. In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the mother of Cúchulainn and sister of Conchobar mac Nessa.


Deirdre

From Irish Deirdre, from Old Irish Derdriu.

(Irish mythology) The foremost tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.

Deirdre, it seemed to him, was the most beautiful name in the world. But Mrs. Stanley had different views on nomenclature. She had never, she declared, heard so utterly preposterous a name. […]"Theatre and saltpetre are both spelt that way, Arthur; depend upon it, it is Deirder - a sort of peasant name like Darby and Biddy, a corruption of something else."

1885, Frances Mabel Robinson, Mr. Butler's Ward, Vizetelly, page 95:

His daughter was called Deirdre, a good Irish name, but now she signed herself Dee, and her man friend was called Fox.

1996, Maeve Binchy, This Year It Will Be Different: A Christmas Treasury, Hachette UK, published 2008, →ISBN:


Hugh

From the Old French aristocratic and saint's name Hughe, brought to England by Normans, from a short form of Germanic names beginning with Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“heart, mind”), such as Hubert. Cognate with Old English hyġe (“mind, spirit, intellect”). More at high, how.

cog

I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vitae bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

Cold's the wind, and wet's the rain, / Saint Hugh be our good speed. / Ill is the weather that bringeth no gain, / Nor helps good hearts in need.

1600, Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's Holiday:

"You are engaged to Mr. Harden, I suppose?" "Yes, Mr. Harden. I call him Hugh, his second name. I like the name of Hugh. The exquisite long vowel pleases me―Hugh! Hugh!".

1894, W. H. Miller, J. Mcaulauy, W. Stevens, The Leisure Hour, Richard Jones, page 651:

Hugh McAnally was universally known as "Wee Shug". He didn't know why people called Hugh always ended up nicknamed Shug.

1996, Ian Rankin, Let It Bleed, Thorndike Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 68:

What I had noticed all of my young life, from as early as five years old, was that very few people outside my family knew how to pronounce my name―or spell it. "Hue, Hug, Huge, Huh, Hugo. Everything but my name, HUGH!" - - - I grew up thinking that I was the only Hugh in the world, and all my life I'll be meeting people who will have trouble pronouncing my name.

2011, Hughie Boy Levoy, Chicago Kid, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 151:

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Angeleno

/ˌænd͡ʒɪˈliːnəʊ/

Coordinate term: Angelena

The LAPD has asked Angelenos not to shoot at the alien spaceship, fearing it might trigger an interstellar war.

He expressed his concerns through a series of histrionic rhetorical questions concerning L.A.’s shortcomings, all of which Sadie, a native Angeleno, already knew: Did she know about the earthquakes? The fires? The floods?

2022, Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Vintage (2023), page 185:


Mehran

From Persian مهران (mehrân), from Middle Persian mtrʾn (mihrān). Related to Persian مهر (mehr) and Mithra.

مهران مهران#Persian

A transliteration of the Persian male given name مهران (mehrân).


systematic element name

en-noun

systematic element name (plural systematic element names)

Before IUPAC named the element with atomic number 106 “seaborgium” in honour of Glenn Seaborg, it was called by the systematic element name unnilhexium.

(chemistry) A systematic name for an element, derived from the digits of its atomic number to which the suffix -ium is appended; normally only used for transuranic elements before or for a short period after they have been created, after which they are given a non-systematic name.


systematic name

systematic name (plural systematic names)

A name that systematically designates a well-defined group of entities.

(chemistry) A name composed of words or symbols that precisely describe chemical structure; such names exist for both elements and compounds

systematický název

name precisely describing chemical structure


Terrence

A male given name from Latin, variant of Terence.


placeman

Plus, contrary to hysterical prediction and uninformed innuendo, Bryant Lemuel's influence did not fill this pilot project with compliant placemen, instead leaving all appointments to the university science faculty.

2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 183:

Predictably, the brow-beaten Clement in the end submitted to Philip's demands that the papal commission, which was eventually convened in November 1309, should consist predominantly of clerics who were known to be royal placemen.

2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 32:

(UK politics, derogatory) One appointed to an office, especially in government, as a reward for political or other support; an appointee, a yes-man.


Erika

Spelling variant of Erica, the feminine form of Eric, or borrowed directly from modern Scandinavia, ultimately from Old Norse Eiríkr.

A female given name from the Germanic languages or Old Norse.


Terence

From Latin Terentius, a Roman family name of obscure origin, borne by a Roman playwright and by early Christian saints.
* In Ireland, it has been used to represent Turlough.

"Very likely the ragged scion of one of those Irish gentry, who has taken naturally to 'the road'. He should be at school - though I warrant me his knowledge of Terence will not extend beyond his own name," said Lord Henry Somerset, aid-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant.

1867, Bret Harte, chapter I, in Terence Denville:

They had an expensive, well-cut air which was like a uniform, and their conversation was all about people with names like Terence and Geoffrey, Philippa and Vivien, who lived in London and County Wicklow and who were "terribly amusing".

1963, Jane McIlvaine, Cammie's Cousin, Bobbs-Merrill, page 58:

A male given name from Latin. Popular in the U.K. in the mid-twentieth century.


Cheyenne

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Cheyenne.wav

Borrowed from French Cheyenne, from Dakota šahíyena, from Dakota šaia (“to speak incoherently”), from Dakota ša (“red”) and Dakota ya (“to speak”).

A member of an indigenous people of the Great Plains in North America.


Cheyenne

The capital and largest city of Wyoming, United States and the county seat of Laramie County; named for the people.

A river in the United States; flowing 295 miles from the confluence of the Antelope and Dry Fork creeks in Thunder Basin National Grassland, Wyoming into Lake Oahe, a reservoir of the Missouri River, at Mission Ridge, South Dakota.

Roger Mills County
Roger Mills County#English

A town, the county seat of Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, United States.

A female or male given name of modern American usage.


Eddie

There's a world of difference between the name Edward, which sounds rather regal and stuffy (Edwardian) and the name Eddie, which sounds like a guy on the bus.

1994, Caroline Knapp, The Merry Recluse: A Life in Essays, Counterpoint Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 169:

A diminutive of Edward, Edgar, Edwin, or other male given names beginning with Ed-.


Mississippian

A native or resident of the state of Mississippi in the United States of America.


Harold

From Old English Hereweald, from Proto-Germanic *Harjawaldaz, equivalent to Old English here (“army”) + weald (“ruler”). Related to Walter, which has the elements reversed.

For I have heard the Steers / Had land in Saxon times; and your own name / Of Harold sounds so English and so old / I am sure you must be proud of it.

1882, Alfred Tennyson, The Promise of May:

She called her husband Hal because no one else had ever done so and it had a dashing ring, rather out of keeping with Harold's appearance.

1984, Ruth Rendell, The Killing Doll, Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 42: