Arthurian

en-adj

Arthurian (comparative more Arthurian, superlative most Arthurian)

more Arthurian (comparative)
most Arthurian (superlative)

A reminder of the Arthurian legends comes with the next station, Camelford, where passengers alight for Boscastle and Tintagel with their fine coast scenery, and near to which is Slaughter Bridge, where King Arthur is supposed to have fought his last.

1949 September and October, B. G. Wilson, “The North Cornwall Line of the Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 328:

Of or pertaining to the legend of Arthur, king of the Britons, and his court at Camelot.


defender

defenders (plural)
defendor (alternative)
defendour (alternative)

From Middle English defender, deffender, defendere, defendour, defendoure, partly from Anglo-Norman defendour, from Old French defendëor; partly from Middle English defenden + -ere, equivalent to defend + -er.

(Scots law) A defendant in a civil action.


Shana

Anglicized variant of the Welsh name Siân (pet form Siana) - or a version of the French name Jeanne.

Shayna

also spelled Shana; both derived from the Yiddish female given name שיינע (sheyne; )


Cristobal

A male given name from Spanish, an anglicized spelling of Spanish Cristóbal.


King Arthur

A legendary king of Britain, said to have led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century.


Frankfurter

From German Frankfurter. Equivalent to Frankfurt + -er.

A native or inhabitant of Frankfurt, Germany.


Ariah

From Hebrew אַרְיֵה (“God has promised. Also, lion of God”).


Christie

Christy (alternative)
Kristi (alternative)
Kristie (alternative)
Kristy (alternative)

A diminutive of the female given name Christine and of its variant forms; fairly common as a formal female given name in the 20th century.

A mostly Scottish and Irish diminutive of the male given name Christopher.


Muhammad

Muhammads (plural)
Mahomed (alternative)
Mahommed (alternative)
Mehemet (alternative)
Mohamad (alternative)
Muhamed (alternative)
Muhammat (alternative)
Muhamad (alternative)
Mehemed (alternative)
Mehemmed (alternative)
Mahoma (alternative)
Muhammud (alternative)
Mahemet (alternative)
Mehemmet (alternative)
Mehmed (alternative)
Mehmet (alternative)
Mohamet (alternative)
Mahamad (alternative)
Mahammad (alternative)
Mahamet (alternative)
Mahumet (alternative)
Mohammet (alternative)
Mahammed (alternative)
Mahamed (alternative)
Mahommet (alternative)
Mahomad (alternative)
Machomet (alternative)
Mahommad (alternative)
Muhammet (alternative)
Mahomat (alternative)
Muhamet (alternative)
Muhamat (alternative)
Maomet (alternative)
Mohamat (alternative)
Mahamat (alternative)
Mahamid (alternative)
Mohamud (alternative)
Mohammud (alternative)
Mahomett (alternative)
Mohamid (alternative)
Mohammid (alternative)
Muhamud (alternative)
Muhammid (alternative)
Mahammet (alternative)
Muhamid (alternative)
Magomet (alternative)
Mohemet (alternative)
Mehammed (alternative)
Mohemmed (alternative)
Mehamet (alternative)
Mohemed (alternative)
Mahemed (alternative)
Mouhammad (alternative)
Mouhamed (alternative)
Mouhamad (alternative)
Muhmmed (alternative)
Mohamod (alternative)
Mohammod (alternative)
Muhmad (alternative)
Muhmmad (alternative)
Muhimmad (alternative)
Mohmad (alternative)
Mohmmad (alternative)
Mohmmed (alternative)
Mohmed (alternative)
Machoumet (alternative)
Mahamath (alternative)
Mahamett (alternative)
Mahamit (alternative)
Mahammat (alternative)
Mahammid (alternative)
Mahemett (alternative)
Mahemmed (alternative)
Mahemmet (alternative)
Mahometh (alternative)
Mahommat (alternative)
Mahommett (alternative)
Mahoumed (alternative)
Mahoumet (alternative)
Mahumett (alternative)
Mehamid (alternative)
Mehammad (alternative)
Mehemett (alternative)
Moammed (alternative)
Moehammad (alternative)
Mohamit (alternative)
Mohammat (alternative)
Mohamut (alternative)
Mohemmet (alternative)
Mohomet (alternative)
Mouhamet (alternative)
Mouhammed (alternative)
Muammed (alternative)
Muhamut (alternative)
Muhemmad (alternative)
Mathomus (alternative)
Muħammad (alternative)
Muḥammad (alternative)
Magomed (alternative)
Magomet (alternative)
Ma, Mah, Mar, Mo ／ 馬 (alternative)

Transliteration of Arabic مُحَمَّد (muḥammad, “praised, commendable, laudable”), the passive participle of حَمَّدَ (ḥammada, “to praise, commend, laud, extol”). From the same triconsonantal root ح م د (ḥ m d) as, but distinct from, Mahmud.

ar-root

ح م د (ḥ m d)

(countable) A male given name from Arabic very popular among Muslims.


Mohammed

A male given name from Arabic: alternative spelling of Muhammad


Geraldine

From Gerald + -ine. c. 1540 by the Earl of Surrey as a poetic name for Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, "one of the Fitzgeralds". Taken up as a given name in the 19th century, and used as a feminine form of Gerald.

Hunsdon did first present her to mine eyen; / Bright is her hue, and Geraldine she hight.

circa 1540 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Description and praise of his love Geraldine

Alberta is more like a man's name than any other name that comes from a men's, more than Georgianna which is just like a magnolia blossom or Henrietta which most people change to Etta or Geraldine which nobody ever thinks of coming from a man's Irish name like Gerald.

1936, George Weller, Clutch and Differential, Ayer, published 1970, →ISBN, page 196:

A female given name from the Germanic languages.


Neptunian

From Latin Neptūnius (“of or pertaining to the Roman god Neptune”), from Neptūnus (“the Roman god Neptune”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nebʰ- (“to become damp, cloudy”)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns); analysable as Neptune + -ian. The English word is cognate with French neptunien (“pertaining to the Roman god Neptune, pertaining to the sea, pertaining to Neptunism, Neptunian; proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”), German Neptunier (“proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”).

cog

Near-synonym: Poseidonian

The Tomb disburd'ning, whence the Ghoſt aroſe / Of great Achilles; Such when Thracian Foes / (The Prelude of thy Fates, Troy!) he o'rethrew, / And the white hair'd Neptunian Cycnus [i.e., Neptune's son] ſlew.

1679, Lucius Annaeus Seneca [i.e., Seneca the Younger], translated by Edward Sherburne, Troades: Or The Royal Captives. A Tragedy, Written Originally in Latin, […], London: Printed by Anne Godbid, and John Playford, for Samuel Carr, […], →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 21:

(Roman mythology) Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.


Neptunian

Neptunians (plural)
neptunian (alternative)

We are not ourselves, bigotted Neptunians or Vulcanians: we perceive difficulties whichever theory be adopted: and provided the earth be but stable under us, we are not anxiously jealous for the dignity of the trident-wielding power, or for the honour of the hammer-working deity.

1807 October, “View of the Mineralogy, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Fisheries, of the Island of Arran, […] by the Rev. James Headrick. pp. 395. Price 10s. 6d. Constable and Co. Edinburgh: Murray, London, 1807. [book review]”, in The Literary Panorama. Being a Review of Books, Magazine of Varieties, and Annual Register, volume III, London: Printed by Cox, Son, and Baylis, […], [f]or C[harles] Taylor, […], published March 1808, →OCLC, column 57:

Its [obsidian's] origin is warmly contested between the Neptunians and Plutonians, many of the latter denominating it a vitreous lava.

1813, John Mason Good, Olinthus Gregory, Newton Bosworth, “OBSIDIAN”, in Pantologia. A New Cyclopædia, Comprehending a Complete Series of Essays, Treatises, and Systems, Alphabetically Arranged; […], volumes VIII (MID–OZO), London: Printed for G. Kearsley; [et al.], →OCLC, column 1:

As to the two theories, neither will suffice alone. The neptunian is utterly inadequate to explain the phenomena of basalt; nor can a vulcanist account for the appearance of an hydrophane.—We need both explanations. Those geologists who have travelled in the north of Europe, are generally neptunians; those who have made their observations in the south of the same regions, are generally vulcanists.

1817 April, “Art. IV.—An Elementary Treatise on Mineralogy and Geology, being an Introduction to the Study of Those Sciences, […] By Parker Cleaveland, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and Lecturer in Chymistry and Mineralogy in Bowdoin College, &c. &c. Boston, 1816. Large 8vo. pp. 668.”, in The Analectic Magazine, volume IX, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Moses Thomas, →OCLC, pages 312–313:

(geology, historical) A proponent of Neptunism.


Neptunian

From Neptune (“eighth planet in the solar system”) + -ian.

suffix

I need not say that from Neptune the earth is completely invisible, as well as Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. Saturn is a little star which departs from the sun up to 18°. For the Neptunians the solar system appears to be composed of the sun, Saturn, Uranus, their own world, and the planet which doubtless gravitates beyond Neptune.

1894, Camille Flammarion, “The Planet Neptune and the Frontiers of the Solar Domain”, in J[ohn] Ellard Gore, transl., Popular Astronomy: A General Description of the Heavens: … Translated from the French with the Author’s Sanction, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 470:

We learn the energy quotient of a bogus Earthling, note how much it varies from that of a genuine one, and then proceed to carefully single out every Neptunian. It will take time, no doubt, but not perhaps as long as we think, as the percentage of Neptunians to Earthlings is small.

1952, John Russell Fearn, chapter 12, in Quorne Returns (The Golden Amazon Saga; book 6), [Rockville, Md.]: Wildside Press, published 2013, →ISBN, page 102:

Pretend that you are a visitor to Earth from the planet Neptune. When you return home you will want to describe Earthlings to your fellow Neptunians. [...] Good luck! Or as Neptunians say, "Urk bliff!"

2001, Justin McCory Martin, “March”, in Marvelous Month-by-month Writing Prompts: 250 Knock-their-socks-off Writing Prompts to Inspire Super Writing All Year Long!, New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Professional Books, →ISBN, page 43:

Since Neptune had been the chosen planet to help Earth work through its current series of crises, Neptunians were key beings at this time. Each visit to Earth was a specific mission for those who were chosen to travel there.

2001 April 12, Patricia Ann Pich, “Neptune”, in Out of this World: A Fairy Tale for Children of All Ages, [Bloomington, Ind.]: 1stBooks, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

(chiefly science fiction) An (imaginary) inhabitant of the planet Neptune.


Karm

कर्म कर्म#Hindi

A male given name from Hindi कर्म (karm, “fate”).


Ibrahim

Etymology tree
Hebrew אַבְרָהָםbor.
Aramaic אברהםbor.
Arabic إِبْرَاهِيم (ʔibrāhīm)bor.
English Ibrahim
Transliteration of Arabic إِبْرَاهِيم (ʔibrāhīm). Doublet of Abraham.

etymon

ar>إِبْرَاهِيم>prophet


Ismail

From Arabic إِسْمَاعِيل (ʔismāʕīl). Doublet of Ishmael.

der

Arabic إِسْمَاعِيل (ʔismāʕīl)

Исмаил Исмаил#Macedonian

A transliteration of the Macedonian male given name Исмаил (Ismail).


Ishmael

From Hebrew יִשְׁמָעֵאל (yishma'él (yišmāʿēl), “God hears, God will hear”).

Ismahel (alternative)
Ismael (alternative)

Call me Ishmael.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 1:


Ramadan

Ramadans (plural)
Ramazan (alternative)
Ramadhan (alternative)
Ramadzan (alternative)
Rhamadan (alternative)
Ramzan (alternative)

/ɹɑːməˈdɑːn/

/ˈɹɑːmədɑːn/

Transliteration of Arabic رَمَضَان (ramaḍān); see there for more.

translit

A male given name from Arabic, of Muslim usage.


Hanif

From Arabic حَنِيف (ḥanīf, “true believer, righteous (person)”).


Husayn

Transliteration of Arabic حُسَيْن (ḥusayn), from the root ح س ن (ḥ s n).

ar-root

ح س ن (ḥ s n)

Husain (alternative)
Husein (alternative)
Hussain (alternative)
Hussein (alternative)
Husayn (alternative)
Ḥusayn (alternative)
Huseyn (alternative)
Husseyn (alternative)
Hussien (alternative)
Hussayn (alternative)
Husseyin (alternative)
Huseyin (alternative)
Hüseyin (alternative)
Hoseyn (alternative)
Hosseyn (alternative)
Hosein (alternative)
Hossein (alternative)
Hosain (alternative)
Hossain (alternative)
Hosayn (alternative)
Hossayn (alternative)
Housseine (alternative)
Houssein (alternative)
Houssain (alternative)
Houssayn (alternative)
Housseyn (alternative)

A male given name from Arabic used by Muslims, diminutive of حسن (“Hasan”) meaning good or handsome.


Hasan

en-proper noun

Hasan (countable and uncountable, plural Hasans)

From Arabic حَسَن (ḥasan, “fine, good, good-looking, handsome, manly; strong”).

bor

A male given name from Arabic used by Muslims.


Hassan

From Arabic حَسَّان (ḥassān, “doer of good”).


Khadija

/xəˈdiːd͡ʒə/


Quraysh

Transliteration of Arabic قُرَيْش (qurayš).

translit

Koreish (alternative)
Kuraish (alternative)
Quraish (alternative)

When the message arrived the Quraysh were already preparing for war with Medina. It did not take them long to set out from Mecca with 1,000 men in arms, augmented by 100 cavalry. All the grandees of Mecca were there, including Abu Jahl.

2014 September 25, Ziauddin Sardar, Mecca: The Sacred City, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

An ancient Bedouin tribe that controlled Mecca at the time of Muhammad.


Quraysh

In the Quran's chapter 106, often spelled Quraysh in English, God speaks to tribes who are standing defiantly against the Prophet Mohammad: "So let them serve the Lord of this house who feeds them against hunger and gives them security against fear."

2013, Lynne Meredith Golodner, Flavors of Faith: Holy Breads, Front Edge Publishing, →ISBN:

The 106th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an, named after the aforementioned tribe.


masjid

masjids (plural)
masajid (plural)
masjeed (alternative)
masgid (alternative)

Borrowed from Arabic مَسْجِد (masjid), from the root س ج د (s j d). Doublet of mosque.

Any masjid where the practices are devoted absolutely to The God ALONE.

If you assign a place in your home or office for prayer, then it can be considered as your own masjid.


Medina

* The province and city in Saudi Arabia is derived from Arabic اَلْمَدِينَة (al-madīna, “the city”). Doublet of Mdina.
* The river and former borough on the Isle of Wight are derived from Old English Meðune (“the middle one”).
* The river and county in Texas are derived from the Spanish surname Medina.

bor

اَلْمَدِينَة

Al Madinah (alternative)
Madinah (alternative)

A female given name transferred from the surname.


Moghul

Borrowed from Iranian Persian مغول (moğul) (for the spellings moghul and mogul) or from Classical Persian مغول (muğūl, muğōl) and Urdu مغل (muġal) (for other spellings), an Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol, ultimately from Middle Mongol ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ (mongɣol). More at Mughal.

Mogor (alternative)
Mogol (alternative)
Mogul (alternative)
Mughal (alternative)


Mogul

census-designated place
census-designated place

A census-designated place in Washoe County, Nevada, United States.


Safavid

From Persian صفوی (Safavi) + -id, from Arabic صَفَوِيّ (Ṣafawiyy), from صَفِيّ (Ṣafiyy, “Safi-ad-Din Ardabili”) + ـَوـ (-aw-, interfix) + ـِيّ (-iyy, “-i, -y”, suffix forming adjectives and relational nouns).

Relating to the Safavid dynasty, a Muslim dynasty which ruled Iran between the 16th and 18th centuries.


Safavid

(informal) A member of the Safavid Empire, an Iranian.


Sayyid

en-proper noun

Sayyid (countable and uncountable, plural Sayyids)

Sayyids (plural)
Said (alternative)
Saiid (alternative)
Saiyid (alternative)
Sayed (alternative)
Sayeed (alternative)
Sayid (alternative)
Sayyad (alternative)
Syed (alternative)
Seyed (alternative)
Seyyed (alternative)
Seyyid (alternative)
Seyyit (alternative)
Syud (alternative)

From Arabic سَيِّد (sayyid, “Master, Lord, the nobleman”).


hangul

Hangul (alternative)
hangeul (alternative)
Hangeul (alternative)
han-geul (alternative)
Han-geul (alternative)
hangŭl (alternative)
Hangŭl (alternative)
han'gŭl (alternative)
Han'gŭl (alternative)
hankul (alternative)
Hankul (alternative)

[Alt: 한글 ㅎ=h ㅏ=a ㄴ=n ㄱ=g ㅡ=eu ㄹ=l]
From Korean 한글 (han'geul, “Korean script”).

The phonetic alphabet used to write the Korean language.


Berkeley

From Old English beorc (“birch”) + leah (“meadow, leigh”). Equivalent to birch + -ley (“lea”).

Barclay (alternative)
Barclift (alternative)
Barkley (alternative)

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Barnaby

* English surname of Aramaic origin, from בַּר נְבִיָּא (bar nəḇiyyā, literally “prophet’s son”).
* Also as an English surname, from Old English Beornwald, from beorn (“young warrior”) + wealdan (“rule”) + Old Norse býr (“farmstead”).

This day the sun is in his chiefest height
With Barnaby the Bright.

The name Barnaby may strike the reader as out of place in so Celtic a pedigree; but this was an anglicisation of the true name, Brian Oge - - - Now, times are altered, and his anglicised descendants will probably begin to use Brian as a family name again, rejecting Barnaby as less respectable.

1848, John O'Donovan, “The Annals of the Four Masters”, in The Dublin University Magazine, volume 31, page 577:

Barnaby liked his own name. He was proud of its differentness and would never answer to "Barney", or any other nickname.

1962, Edward Eager, Seven-Day Magic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, published 1999, →ISBN, page 8:

But instead of pressing the button that would have taped the play she pressed the button that activated the built-in microphone and recorded a hundred and twenty minutes of hers and Barnaby's home life, which aurally consisted of 'Want a cup of tea?' 'No thanks.'

A male given name from Hebrew, from the medieval vernacular form of Barnabas.


COBRA

Cabinet Office Briefing Room A
w:Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms

(UK politics) Initialism of Cabinet Office Briefing Room A.

(UK politics, by extension) Acronym of Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms.


COBRA

(UK politics, by extension) A cabinet committee meeting that would use a COBR room

(UK politics, by extension) A cabinet committee that would meet using a COBR room


CPS

Last year, for example, Raab wrote a paper for the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) – since the birth of Thatcherism one of the radical right's fiercest thinktanks […]

2012 August 22, Andy Beckett, “Britannia Unchained: the rise of the new Tory right”, in The Guardian:

Centre for Policy Studies
w:Centre for Policy Studies

(UK politics) Initialism of Centre for Policy Studies.


Valerian

Валериа́н Валериан#Russian

A transliteration of the Russian male given name Валериа́н (Valerián).


Ural-Altaic

A grouping of the Uralic language family with the Altaic languages, formerly considered a language family, now treated as an area of linguistic convergence, or possibly a sprachbund (like Altaic itself).


Ugric

From Russian у́гры (úgry), the name of an indigenous people dwelling east of the Urals, + -ic.

A group of languages that includes Hungarian, Khanty and Mansi.


Juliett

A female given name from Latin, of rare usage, variant of Juliet.


Derek

Borrowed in the Middle Ages from a Middle Low German variant of Theodoric, and revived in the nineteenth century. Not related to Hebrew דֶּרֶךְ (déreḵ, “road”).

Derick (alternative)
Derrick (alternative)
Deryck (alternative)

"Do you think so? Her husband has an odd name - Derek Keppel. He is a musician - a violinist."

1895, The American Magazine, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, page 446:

We do not entertain as much anymore because of Derek. (He produces strain. We have to pretend he doesn't.) I used to like him when I still thought he was normal. I was fond of him. I used to call him Dirk, and Kiddo, Steamshovel, Dinky Boy, and Dicky Dare. Till I found out what he was. Now it's always formal: Derek.

1974, Joseph Heller, Something happened, →ISBN, page 509:

Frederick or Derek Boothby was in his late fifties, the son of a naval officer and a daughter of the Earl of Limerick.

2010, James Robertson, And the Land Lay Still, Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 292:

The willingness to bring more marginal legal cases reflects how the amount of money being put toward election litigation has increased significantly, said Derek Muller, an election law professor at the University of Notre Dame who noted that the trend also applies to Democrats and outside groups across the ideological spectrum.

2024 April 11, Fredreka Schouten and Tierney Sneed, “GOP leaders pursue new lawsuits over 2024 election rules – including attacking methods of voting they want supporters to use”, in CNN:

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Jovian

en-adj

Jovian (comparative more Jovian, superlative most Jovian)

more Jovian (comparative)
most Jovian (superlative)

From Latin Iovis, genitive of Iuppiter, analysable as Jove + -ian.

(astronomy) Pertaining to the planet Jupiter.

Near-synonym: Zeusian

He did not admit of equals. But as a patron he was superb. With his Jovian air, his colossal condescension, his amused smile, his general suggestion of the god descending to the mortal, he could be quite overpowering in his amiability.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

(Roman mythology) Pertaining to the Roman god Jove or Jupiter (the counterpart of the Greek god Zeus); Jove-like; befitting Jupiter.


Jovian

(chiefly science fiction) An imaginary inhabitant of the planet Jupiter.


Kapingamarangi

The Austronesian language spoken in the Federated States of Micronesia, especially by the inhabitants of Kapingamarangi.


Ashley

en-proper noun

Ashley (countable and uncountable, plural Ashleys)

Ashleys (plural)
Ashlee (alternative)
Ashleigh (alternative)
Ashlie (alternative)
Ashly (alternative)

From Old English *Æsċlēah, composed of æsċ (“ash tree”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”). Equivalent to Ash + -ley.

'There now, Scarlett! You admit it is true. What would you be doing with a husband like Ashley? 'Tis moonstruck they all are, all the Wilkes.'

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter III, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:

But when Krystal McConnell and Ashley Flynn were named deep in the heart of the '80s the thing was cuteness, feminine delicacy raised to an aesthetic paradigm. --- And everyone named according to a particular version of the pedigree fantasy. Ashley : transplanted Southern privilege, a destiny lying in sorority mixers and a marriage of health club memberships, state-of-the-art appliances and night courses in nouvelle cuisine.

1999, Andrew Pyper, chapter 10, in Lost Girls:

I discovered that her full name was Margaret Lowell. I wasn't an expert on Earth names, but I still knew this was wildly inappropriate. She should have been called Lana Bellcurve or Ashley Brainsex or something.

2013, Matt Haig, The Humans, Canongate, →ISBN, page 832:

A female given name transferred from the surname.


Guillaume

From French. Doublet of Guillermo, William, and Wilhelm, etc., whose diminutive is Guy


ARV

alien reproduction vehicle
alien reproduction vehicle#English

(ufology) Initialism of alien reproduction vehicle.


Vancouverite

Those frolicking in Vancouver's recreational areas shouldn't be surprised to end up in the middle of a rather messy sloshball game or ultimate Frisbee tournament; Vancouverites tend to leave their big-city attitudes at home.

1995, Pacific Northwest & Alaska: on the loose, Fodor's, page 325:

(Canada) A native or resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.


Fleet Street

From the (now underground) River Fleet, over which much of Fleet Street runs; see fleet (“arm of the sea; stream”) for more.

And it is to bee ſeene in London, at the red Lyon, in Fleteſtreete.

1569, C. R., The true discripcion of this marueilous straunge Fishe, whiche was taken on thursday was sennight, the .xvi. day of June, this present month, in the yeare of our Lord God. M.DLX.ix.:

A street in Westminster borough, London, England, that runs from Ludgate Hill to the Strand; formerly the centre of English journalism.


FCO

The FCO also disputes Fernández's claim that Britain kicked out the island's original Argentinian inhabitants.

2013 January 3, Luke Harding, Uki Goni, The Guardian:

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
w:Foreign and Commonwealth Office

(British, UK politics) Initialism of Foreign and Commonwealth Office.


Mi'kmaq

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Mi'kmaq.wav

Mikmaq (alternative)
Míkmaq (alternative)
Micmac (alternative)

The polysynthetic Eastern Algonquian language spoken by this people, closely related to Maliseet and Passamaquoddy.


MSA

Modern South Arabian
Modern South Arabian#English


TD

en-noun

TD (countable and uncountable, plural TDs)

Fianna Fáil TD Jim O'Callaghan, whose Dublin constituency is home to one of Accenture's office here, said: […]

2023 August 1, “Accenture cuts 890 more job from Irish operation”, in The Irish Times, page 1:

(Irish politics) Initialism of Teachta Dála, a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Parliament of the Republic of Ireland.


PSI

Policy Studies Institute
w:Policy Studies Institute

(UK politics) Initialism of Policy Studies Institute, a British think tank.


Cooper

en-prop

Cooper (countable and uncountable, plural Coopers)

(countable) A male given name transferred from the surname.


Stuart

en-proper noun

Stuart (countable and uncountable, plural Stuarts)


Gen

Hal. Oh, don't fuss, Gen. I'll do my part all right. Mamma's 'structed me, you know.
Genevieve. Instructed, Hal.

“Gen? Listen, I'm so sorry I did that, Gen. You gotta believe me. I'm not like this and you know it.” “Listen...Kyle, I...I don't think I want to see you anymore.” Genevieve's voice cracked. “Gen!”

2017, Emma G Prince, The Silent Life of Genevieve, →ISBN:

A female given name, a short form of Genevieve.


Nat

Nat (countable and uncountable, plural Nats)

Coordinate term: Nate

Nathan was one of the tiniest, tottering along, holding on to the hand of a much older girl. Nat. Small like a gnat.

2008, Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 27:

A diminutive of the male given name Nathanael, Nathaniel, Nathan.

A diminutive of the female given name Natasha, Natalie, Natalia.


Nat

(slang, informal, UK politics) A member or supporter of the Scottish National Party.


Majorism

(UK politics) The political and economic policies of the British Conservative prime minister Sir John Major.


Old Bailey

Originally "The Bailey", a street running outside the western wall of medieval London; from the word bailey, a Middle English term for the outermost wall or court of a fortification. The courthouse built nearby in the 16th century, alongside old Newgate Prison, took its name from the street.

A street in the City between Holborn Circus and St Paul's Cathedral.

The Central Criminal Court in this street; the Crown Court in the City of London.

(by extension) The English legal system.


Whitehall

Whitehall (countable and uncountable, plural Whitehalls)

From Middle English whit (“white”) + halgh (“corner, nook; hall”).

A wide street in Westminster between Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square; it houses several government offices.

Britain's securocracy - Whitehall spymasters, backed up by government lawyers, engaged in the increasingly thankless task of preserving state secrets - are faced with an intriguing conundrum. What do they do when the bulwark they have been relying on for so long to protect their secrets crumbles before their eyes?

2000 July 27, Richard Norton-Taylor, “Analysis: The secret's out”, in the Guardian:

It notes: "The Welsh Government's view is that genuine 'levelling up' cannot simply mean a sprinkling of new, ad hoc rail projects decided in Whitehall, it has to be part of a strategic approach to promoting growth in all parts of the UK."

2020 December 2, Philip Haigh, “When will Wales's wish for rail improvements come true?”, in Rail, page 32:

(UK politics, by extension, metonymically) The British government or civil service

Former spelling of White Hall, California.

A city and township in Muskegon County, Michigan, United States.

A township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States.

Trempealeau County
Trempealeau County#English

A city, the county seat of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, United States.


Square Mile

From square mile
* (London): The City's land area is about 1.12 square miles and roughly square in shape.
* (Montreal): Ellipsis of Golden Square Mile.. From having a land area of roughly a mile square.

(London, informal) Synonym of City of London.

Golden Square Mile
Golden Square Mile#English

(Montreal) Synonym of Golden Square Mile


Patricia

From Latin patricia (“noble”); later also seen as the feminine form of the saint's name Patrick.

"[…] Our house is not of the era of Queen Isabella, but of the Princess Patricia."
"That sounds like Aunt Isabel. They always called me Patricia there. Don't you think, papa, now that I'm getting so grown up, I ought to be called Patricia? Patty is such a baby name."
"Patty is good enough for me," said Mr. Fairfield. "If you want to be called Patricia, you must get somebody else to do it. I dare say you could hire somebody for a small sum per week to call you Patricia for a given number of times every day."
"Now, you're making fun of me, papa; but I do want to grow up dignified, and not be a silly schoolgirl all my life."

1904, Carolyn Wells, “Shopping”, in Patty at Home, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, →OCLC, page 56:

"Trix" was a derivation of Trish, our mother's girlhood name, or cognomen, as she called it; Trish was itself a derivation of Patricia. Trix disliked her original name because she thought it prissy and old-fashioned, but she didn't much like "Trix" either.

1991, Joyce Carol Oates, Heat And Other Stories, Dutton, →ISBN:


Edith

Inherited from Old English Ēadġȳþ, from Proto-Germanic *audaz (“wealth, riches”) + *gunþiz (“battle”). Name of a 10th century English saint.

inh

Edith's pretty, but it looks / Better in old English books.

1809, Charles and Mary Lamb, Poetry for Children: Choosing a Name:

But suppose she had had an elder sister with a beautiful name like Edith. My conviction was deep and immovable that had I been named something really pretty like that, I would have found it easy to sew neatly and know my lessons.

1903, Elizabeth Bisland, A Candle of Understanding, Harper&Brothers, page 11:

- - but they went and gave it to this woman named Edith, if you can believe that any woman with a name like Edith would have a clue about what's fashionable." "Edith Head?" I said. "The Oscar-winning costume designer?"

2009, Linwood Barclay, Fear the Worst, Banrtam Books, →ISBN, page 76:


Rudolph

From German Rudolph, Rudolf (compare Proto-Germanic *Hrōþiwulfaz).

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Fran

A diminutive of the female given names Frances and Francine.

A diminutive of the male given name Francis.


Vishnu

Transliteration of Sanskrit विष्णु (viṣṇu).

translit

A male given name from Sanskrit used in India.


Harari

The Ethiosemitic language of these people.


Alanna

A feminine form of Alan; variant spelling of Alana. Compare also Alannah.

A female given name from the Celtic languages.


Averil

A rare variant of the 7th century saint's name Everild, from Old English eofor (“boar”) + hild (“battle”).


Bohemian

From Bohemia + -ian.
In sense of Romani and by association, marginalized artists, from French bohémien (“person from Bohemia, Romani”), from Bohême (“Bohemia”). Regarding the sense evolution, compare gypsy.


Melbournite

(Australia, slang, often humorous, sometimes mildly, derogatory) a resident of Melbourne, Australia


The Mall

From the game pall mall, once played there. The American landmark is named after the avenue in London.

A wide avenue in London leading from Trafalgar Square and Admiralty Arch to Buckingham Palace; used as a ceremonial route.


Pall Mall

From pall mall, the name of a game once played there.

Pall-Mall (alternative)
Pall-mall (alternative)
Pall mall (alternative)

An unincorporated community in Fentress County, Tennessee, United States, named after Pall Mall in London.


Phoenician

Attested as a noun in Middle English as phenicienes (only plural); from Ancient Greek Φοῖνιξ (Phoînix, “Phoenician”).

der

The Semitic language spoken by the inhabitants of Phoenicia.


Tassie

From Tasmania + -ie (diminutive suffix).

(informal, Australia) A Tasmanian, a person from Tasmania.


Tupian

A language family in South America (the Tupian languages).


Ludgate Hill

Despite the claim by the Norman-Welsh Geoffry of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae that Ludgate was so called for having been built by the ancient British king called Lud—a manifestation of the god Nodens—the name is believed by later writers to be derived from "flood gate" or "Fleet gate", from "ludgeat", meaning "back gate" or "postern", or from the Old English term "hlid-geat", meaning "postern" or "swing gate".

Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill railway station

It belonged to that incredible trio, St. Paul's, Ludgate Hill and Holborn, so close together that a long train could almost be in all three stations at once. Ludgate Hill has gone into the dusty limbo of forgotten stations, but its subterranean brassy bar long survived in the arches below, [...].

1941 August, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The English Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 356:

A street in the City of London that runs from St Paul's Churchyard, joining Fleet Street at Ludgate Circus. There was once a railway station named Ludgate Hill.


Blairite

The Blairites came up with young country and new this, new that, but it was cosmetic.

2001 August 27, Madeleine Bunting, “The end is nigh: pessimism rules”, in The Guardian:

(UK politics, informal) A supporter of Tony Blair, British prime minister from 1997 to 2007, or his policies.


Blairite

(UK politics) Relating to Blairites or to Tony Blair's government and policies.


Helen

en-proper noun

Helen (countable and uncountable, plural Helens)

→ Danish: Helen

→ Estonian: Helen

→ Hawaiian: Helena

→ Norwegian: Helen

→ Swedish: Helen

From French Hélène, from Latin Helena, from Ancient Greek Ἑλένη (Helénē). Doublet of Elaine.

Evelyn De Morgan
Helen of Troy (painting)

"Is her name Ellen or Helen, Miss Viner? I thought —"
Miss Viner closed her eyes.
"I can sound my h's, dear, as well as anyone, but Helen is not a suitable name for a servant. I don't know what the mothers in the lower classes are coming to nowadays."

1928, Agatha Christie, The Mystery of the Blue Train:

...in 1910 she brought Helen into the world, the little female, or "mujercita", as her mother called all the babies, naming her after the glittery label on a facial ointment, The Helen of Troy Beauty Pomade, said to eradicate wrinkles, to soften and add a youthful glow to the user's skin - a fortuitous choice because, of all the sisters, she would be the most beautiful and, never growing old, would always possess the face of a winsome adolescent beauty.

1993, Oscar Hijuelos, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien, →ISBN, page 6:

Gemma followed her, thinking that Helen seemed rather an old-fashioned and elegant name for this rumpled young mother.

2003, Deborah Crombie, A Share in Death, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 189:


Bicolano

/bɪkəˈlɑːnəʊ/

A language spoken in the Bicol Region, Philippines.


Belauan

A language spoken in the Pacific, in the Republic of Palau. It is a member of the Austronesian family of languages, and is considered to be one of two languages in Micronesia belonging to the Western Austronesian group, all others considered to be members of the Oceanic subgroup.


Halle

* As a German surname, variant of Hall.
* As a French surname, from the noun halle (“covered room”).
* As a Belgian and Dutch surname, from Halle, Belgium.
* As a Jewish surname, from Halle in Saxony, named after the river Saale.

A female given name, alternative spelling of Hallie. popularized by american actress Halle Berry


Kyle

Kyle (countable and uncountable, plural Kyles)

From several places in Scotland and Northern Ireland, derived from Gaelic caol (“narrows”).

Wally Szalla was the least discomforting of men, nothing like the pushy arrogant guys I was always meeting, or who were always meeting me. Guys with names like Dale, Brock, Kevin, Kyle. Guys with names nothing like Wally.

2005, Joyce Carol Oates, Missing Mom, Ecco, →ISBN, page 110:

A male given name transferred from the surname.

(uncommon) A female given name transferred from the surname.

A census-designated place in South Dakota, United States

A placename
A city in Texas, United States


Adolph

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Alec

A diminutive of the male given name Alexander, from Ancient Greek, of Scottish origin.


TCA

Labour, which has said it will not take the UK back into the EU, the single market or customs union, has, however, already committed to using the 2025 review of the TCA to try to reduce barriers to trade.

2023 February 11, Toby Helm, “Revealed: secret cross-party summit held to confront failings of Brexit”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

Trade and Cooperation Agreement
w:EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

(European politics, UK politics) Initialism of Trade and Cooperation Agreement.


Ari

אֲרִי ארי#Hebrew

לייב לייב#Yiddish

A male given name from Hebrew, of Jewish usage, variant of Arieh (also transcribed as Aryeh, Arye). Ari derives directly from Hebrew: אֲרִי (arí, “lion”); compare Yiddish: לייב (leyb, “Leib”), English: Leo, Leon, French: Léo, Léon, Czech: Lev, Polish: Lew, Russian: Лев (Lev), and Ukrainian: Лев (Lev).

A diminutive of the female given names Arianna, Ariana, Ariel, Ariella, or Arielle, also used as a formal given name.


ETI

Ethical Trading Initiative
Extraterrestrial intelligence

Initialism of Ethical Trading Initiative.


Nihongo

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

From Japanese Nihongo, the romaji of 日本語(にほんご) (nihongo).

(rare except in the Philippines; Japanism) Synonym of Japanese: the Japanese language.


Mick

A diminutive of the male given name Michael.


Hausa

A people living in Nigeria and part of Niger.


Hausa

She tells me she’s been intensively studying Hausa these past weeks, that it’s such a unique and precise language, one that you write the way you speak it, very historical and more Arabian than she’d thought.

2023, Stephen Buoro, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, Bloomsbury Circus, page 191:

The Chadic language spoken by these people.


reptilian

From reptile + -ian, replacing earlier reptilious and adjectival reptile.

More evolved than the Grays or Reptilians, the Humanoids seem to feel some sort of kinship with humans and are likely to be kind.[…] Some researchers believe the Grays are merely preparing the way for a full-scale invasion of Reptilian aliens.

2001, Caroline Tiger, The UFO Hunter’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Paranormal, →ISBN, pages 62–63:

Such powerful human families would descend upon the reptilians themselves and they would be willing to do just anything to retain their power.

2010, Chico Penteado, Talking to the Reptilians-A Report from Brazil, →ISBN, page 11:

The reptilians are the creation of the Carians.

2011, Collin Robert Bowling, A New Order of the Ages, →ISBN:

Reptilians generally are envisioned as half snake, half human, and they are thought to have come from the Alpha Draconian star system.

2015, Marty Crump, Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder's Fork and Lizard's Leg, →ISBN:

(science fiction) A reptilian alien, especially (ufology, often capitalized) of a shapeshifting race alleged to secretly control the world.


Cheapside

From Middle English cheap (“market”). Cheapside, Chipping, and cheap all reflect ancestry from Old English ceapian, concerning trading in markets.

A street, and surrounding district, in the City of London; links Newgate Street, Cornhill, Threadneedle Street, Poultry and Lombard Street (and others).


Proto-Uralic

The ancestor language of the Uralic language family, usually written with the UPA-transcription system.


Lucia

Latinate variant of Lucy, or today borrowed from modern Italian. Name of a Sicilian martyr, Latin Lūcia, feminine form of the Roman praenomen Lūcius.


extradimensional

(science fiction) Coming from a world outside Einsteinian space-time.


Sheandra

(rare) A female given name originating as a coinage, of modern usage.


New Labour

From the slogan “New Labour, New Britain”, used by Tony Blair in his 1994 Labour Party Conference speech.

(UK politics) A movement in the 1990s and 2000s to rebrand the British Labour Party by discarding traditional goals such as nationalization and socialism.


ef

I have drunk en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar from the ef-ell-oh-doubleyou-ee-ar-ess in his gee-ay-ar-dee-ee-en many a time.

2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:

The name of the Latin-script letter F/f.


Threadneedle Street

Corruption of "three needle", from the arms of the Needle-makers' Company. Influenced by threading a needle.

A street in London, running from Poultry and Lombard Street to Bishopsgate; the site of the Bank of England.


Mamduh

A male given name from Arabic that means "[a] praised [person]", or someone who is always mentioned in a positive way.


Frenchman

From Middle English Frenshman; equivalent to French + -man.

red-legged partridge
red-legged partridge


Frenchwoman

A French woman; a woman of French ancestry, descent or citizenship.


Mackenzie

Spelling pronunciation of Scots MacKenȝie with the letter yogh confused with Z. Ultimately from Scottish Gaelic MacCoinnich, itself from mac (“son, descendant”) + Coinnich (“of Coinneach”).

compound

A female given name transferred from the surname, of 1970s and later usage, also in the form Makenzie.

Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories#English

A river in the Northwest Territories, the longest in Canada, running from Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea.

Fraser-Fort George
Fraser-Fort George#English

British Columbia
British Columbia#English

A district municipality in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, central British Columbia, Canada.

St. Louis County
St. Louis County#English

An unincorporated community in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States.


Stephanie

From French Stéphanie. The standard English feminine form of Stephen.

Stefani (alternative)
Stefanie (alternative)
Stefany (alternative)
Stephany (alternative)
Stephannie (alternative)
Stephenie (alternative)

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:


North American

A person living in or originating from North America.

One of a supernational region within North America

One of a country or nation within North America

One of a country or nation within Central America

One of a country or nation within the Caribbean

One of a dependency within North America


Faheem

From Arabic فَهِيم (fahīm, “to understand”).


South American

A person from or living in South America.


Karen

From Danish Karen, a vernacular form of Catherine that arose in medieval Denmark. The sense "middle-aged woman" comes from the popularity of the name among baby boomers and Gen-Xers. The derogatory usage was popularized via African-American Vernacular English.

Caren (alternative)
Caron (alternative)
Caryn (alternative)
Karin (alternative)
Karyn (alternative)

Left you a lover in that far land, / O Karen sad, that you pine so long! / Would I could unravel and understand / That sorrowful, sweet Norwegian song!

1878 Celia Thaxter, Drift-Weed, Houghton, Osgood,1878, page 28 ("Karen")

I was not called Karen after Hans Andersen's dancing girl, but after a Danish friend of my mother's who married an Englishman and was my godmother. So much for our family affairs.

1918 Cecily Ullman Sidgwick, Karen, W.Collins, 1918, page 12


Karen

From Parthian 𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉 (krny /Kārēn/), from Old Iranian. The Armenian name is from Armenian Կարեն (Karen), from the same Parthian name.

Garen (alternative)
Kārēn (alternative)
Qarin (alternative)
Qārin (alternative)
Karin (alternative)
Kārin (alternative)

Կարեն Կարեն#Armenian

A transliteration of the Armenian male given name Կարեն (Karen).


Hoosier

Uncertain. See Wikipedia's article on the subject for theories. Popularized by the 1830 John Finley poem “The Hoosier’s Nest”.

Indiana’s Borderlanders called themselves Hoosiers, came from the backcountry of Kentucky and western Virginia, and were ambivalent about slavery.

2011, Colin Woodard, chapter 16, in American nations, New York: Penguin, →ISBN:

A native or resident of the U.S. state of Indiana.


Diganta

From Hindi, dirgh (long) + Anta (end) = horizon.

A male given name from India, of Indian (particularly Assamese) usage.


Tailtiu

Tailte (alternative)
Tailltiu (alternative)
Talti (alternative)

(Irish mythology) A presumed goddess who was the survivor of the invasion of Tuatha Dé Danann and was the foster mother of Lugh.


Lugh

Borrowed from Irish Lugh, from Old Irish Lug, from Primitive Irish ᚂᚒᚌ (lug), from Proto-Celtic *Lugus.

(Irish mythology) A pre-Christian Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past: the son of Cian and Ethniu.

Samh-ildánach ()

Summer-multi-talented; skilled in many arts


Midir

Mider (alternative)
Midhir (alternative)

(Irish mythology) The son of the Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann who fell in love with Étaín, receiving Aengus's help to make her his new bride.


Étaín

(Irish mythology) The lover of Midir whose rejected first wife Fuamnach became jealous and cast three spells on her, turning her into a pool of water, then into a worm, and then into a fly.


Fuamnach

(Irish mythology) Midir's rejected first wife, who became jealous of Midir's lover Étaín, casting three spells on Étain, turning her into a pool of water, then into a worm, and then into a fly.


Yehudi

From Hebrew יְהוּדִי (yehudí, “Jew”). Related to Judah. An endonym for and doublet of Jew.

A male given name from Hebrew of Jewish usage.


Cayuse

Adapted from French cailloux, a pre-existing French word. The reason this word came to be used for the tribe is unknown; see the Wikipedia article for theories.


Norse

en-adj

Norse (comparative more Norse, superlative most Norse)

more Norse (comparative)
most Norse (superlative)

Partly from Dutch Noorsch (now Noors (“Norwegian”)), from noordsch (“northern; nordic”); and partly from Danish norsk (“Norwegian”). Both equivalent to north + -ish. Doublet of Norsk.

Of or relating to the people, language and culture of Scandinavia.

Of or relating to the North Germanic group of languages.


Norse

Speakers of any of the North Germanic languages.


Norse

(US printing, rare, dated) A size of type between Saxon and excelsior, 2+¹⁄₂-point type.


Ava

Ava Haynes, the oldest daughter, was a warm friend of Lillie Calhoun, whom she soon sought and led quickly into the conservatory.

1881, Mary E. Jackson, The Spy of Osawatomie; or, The Mysterious Companions of Old John Brown, W.S.Bryan, page 57:

My mother named me Ava because she liked how the English letters looked - the big A a beak pointed upward, the v a sharp slash of wings, the small a round and flat as a parrot's eye.

2004, Gayle Brandeis, The Book of Dead Birds: A Novel, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 5:

A female given name from Hebrew, a variant of Eva.

A female given name from Irish, an anglicization of Aoife.

A female given name from the Germanic languages, from a Germanic root *avi of uncertain meaning.


Uranian

Uranian (comparative more Uranian, superlative most Uranian)

more Uranian (comparative)
most Uranian (superlative)
Ouranian (alternative)
ouranian (alternative)
uranian (alternative)

Aphrodite Pandemos
Aphrodite Urania
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Louvre
Plato

From Latin Ūrania (“muse of astronomy in Greek mythology”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns). Ūrania is derived from Ancient Greek Οὐρᾰνῐ́ᾱ (Ourănĭ́ā, “muse of astronomy”), from οὐράνιος (ouránios, “of or relating to the sky, celestial, heavenly”) (from οὐρανός (ouranós, “the sky; heaven, home of the gods; the universe”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers- (“rain”)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘pertaining to’).
The alternative form Ouranian is derived from Ancient Greek οὐράνιος (ouránios).
Adjective sense 2 (“homosexual”) and the noun sense (“a homosexual”) refer to Plato’s work Symposium (c. 385–370 B.C.E.), where the goddess Aphrodite, in her heavenly aspect Aphrodite Urania (see adjective sense 3) is described as inspiring a noble form of affection between older and younger men. Compare German Urning (“a homosexual, Uranian”), Urnigtum (“homosexuality”), also referring to Aphrodite Urania, coined by the German writer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895) in 1864. By the 1900s, the use of the word in this sense had largely been supplanted by homosexual (see further at that entry). The term is no longer mainstream and is almost never used in modern contexts, though it has enjoyed a slight revival as a term for "gay man" as an analogue to lesbian.

der

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

Hence is that secret pardon we bestow / In the true instinct of the grateful heart, / Upon the Sons of Song. The good they do / In the clear world of their Uranian art / Endures for ever; while the evil done / In the poor drama of the mortal scene, / Is but a passing cloud before the sun; [...]

1853, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, “The Ideal World”, in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart., volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, stanza IV, page 317:

Hail thou! sole Muse that, in an age of toil, / Of all the old Uranian sisterhood, / Art left to light us o'er the furrowed soil, / Of this laborious star!

1859, Owen Meredith [pseudonym; Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton], “Epilogue”, in The Wanderer, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, part III, stanza I, page 424:

At first sight the winds would appear to be if anything Ouranian powers of the upper air, yet it seems that sacrifices to the winds were buried, not burnt.

1903, Jane Ellen Harrison, “The Anthesteria. The Ritual of Ghosts and Spirits.”, in Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: At the University Press, →OCLC, page 67:

[T]hose deities which are called ‘chthonic’ or earthly are, as a matter of fact, not in any sense deities of the earth. They are, in one of their aspects associated with the ‘underworld,’ but that underworld is but a segment of their cycle; they are deities of the underworld not because they appertain to the earth or are in any sense a personification of it, but because they are, on the contrary, heavenly bodies which, in the course of their cycle, pass under the earth. They are therefore just as much ‘uranian’ as are the Olympians.

1927, Robert Briffault, “The Great Mothers”, in The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institutions, volume III, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, pages 146–147:

If he [the Hindu god Varuna] cannot be classed exclusively among the "gods of the sky" he nevertheless has qualities proper to the ouranian divinities. He is visva-darsata, "everywhere visible", he "separated the two worlds", the wind is his breath; [...]

1991, Mircea Eliade, “The ‘God who Binds’ and the Symbolism of Knots”, in Philip Mairet, transl., Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism, Mythos paperback edition, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, pages 96–97:

Conversely, Kenneth Anger's only widely released film since 1972, Lucifer Rising (1980), uses a megalithic temple (not Stonehenge) and a number of ancient Egyptian sites in a Crowleyan ritual hymn to chthonian and ouranian deities of power and light.

2002, P. Adams Sitney, “The End of the 20th Century”, in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943–2000, 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 417:

(comparable, literary, poetic) Celestial, heavenly; uranic.

uranien

celestial, heavenly — see also celestial, heavenly

To have altered my life would have been to have admitted that Uranian love is ignoble. I hold it to be noble – more noble than other forms.

1898 February 18?, Oscar Wilde, “Letter to Robert Ross”, in Merlin Holland, Rupert Hart-Davis, editors, The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, published 2000, →ISBN, page 1019:

His [Plato's] Philosophical Eros is not the Uranian Eros which possessed the nation, and the Uranian doctrine is not primarily either philosophical or paederastic. It is a value attached to the masculine which included philosophy as masculine and paederasty when not anti-masculine, but was itself the idea and form of virtue.

1930, Arthur Lyon Raile [pseudonym; Edward Perry Warren], “The Uranian Idea”, in A Defence of Uranian Love, part the second (The Uranian Eros), [London]: Privately printed, →OCLC, pages 19–20:

Before these ideals would once again become available to "homosexuality" as a positive social identity, however, the Uranian modality of male love would be rejected by the avant-garde itself as an outworn fashion.

1994, Linda [C.] Dowling, “The Higher Sodomy”, in Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 134:

[Edward] Carpenter was disappointed by these meetings with [Walt] Whitman but began to integrate a positive homosexual view into his socialist writings. Carpenter saw the Uranian (homosexual) spirit to be more enlightened than that of the common man and believed that Uranians were the new prophets of the coming social revolution.

2003, Chuck Stewart, “Biographical Sketches”, in Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Reference Handbook (Contemporary World Issues), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 138:

Through Veiled Eyes [by John Moray Stuart-Young, published in 1908] was produced by a specialist Uranian publisher for circulation to a specialist Uranian readership, and it required the audience to identify with an adult narrator who spends the bulk of one summer "grooming" an English boy for physical intimacy. This is the sexual scenario most likely to inspire public violence in contemporary Britain, [...] Set in the context of Uranian art, however, it is possible to regard this as a desire fated to be celibate, if only by the status of the angelic love object in the real world as a "real boy, grubby, ink-stained, insolent, uncomprehending of Uranian passion and rebuffing its smallest manifestations." Such a forgiving perspective is one of the few options available to literary critics wishing to avoid the discomfort of drawing biographical conclusions from the material produced by Uranian authors such as Stuart-Young.

2006, Stephanie Newell, “‘Uranian’ Love in West Africa”, in The Forger’s Tale: The Search for Odeziaku (New African Histories), Athens, Oh.: Ohio University Press, →ISBN, page 86:

(comparable, literary, archaic) Homosexual; also, pederastic; relating to a man's erotic love for adolescent boys; (specifically) of poetry: conveying appreciation for young men.

For assuredly are there two Venuses; one, the eldest, the daughter of Uranus, born without a mother, whom we call the Uranian; the other younger, the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, whom we call the Pandemian;—of necessity must there also be two Loves, the Uranian and Pandemian companions of these goddesses. [...] [T]he attendant on the other, the Uranian, whose nature is entirely masculine, is the Love who inspires us with affection, and exempts us from all wantonness and libertinism.

a. 1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Banquet. Translated from Plato.”, in Mrs. Shelley [i.e., Mary Shelley], editor, Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, … In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, published 1840, →OCLC, page 86:

That this is indeed the general tendency of his [Pausanias of Athens'] speech is made clear by two remarks that follow immediately upon his differentiating the Pandemian from the Uranian gods. [...] But what is true for Aphrodite seems to be a contradiction in terms: she is both one and two and all gods must be praised—both Uranian and Pandemian—and yet only the Uranian ought to be praised [...].

2010, Steven Berg, “Pausanias: Noble Lies and the Fulfillment of Greekness”, in Eros and the Intoxications of Enlightenment: On Plato’s Symposium (SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Athens and Enlightenment), page 27:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of Aphrodite Urania, the heavenly aspect of the Greek goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus, as contrasted with the earthly aspect known as Aphrodite Pandemos: heavenly, spiritual.

Graced by nurses (art's nurse highly grac'd him) / Who fed him with pure marrow of the Muses; / And when he list, with moisture to refresh him, / He drunke cleare Helicon: cleare from abuses, / He bent his mind to pure Vranian vses, / Vranianie him did to heau'n vpreare: / And made to man, him demi-god appeare.

1600, Cyril Tourneur, The Transformed Metamorphosis, [London]: Printed by Valentine Sims, […], →OCLC; republished in John Churton Collins, editor, The Plays and Poems of Cyril Tourneur: […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Chatto and Windus, […], 1878, →OCLC, page 213:

Actually, this little girl-child should have been as happy as a lark. But, she wasn't. This is because her Bengali genes had her continually wish to be a Sarasvati, or Uranian Muse, to all the males who came within her ambit – incessantly inspiring them to great works of Art or Scientific discoveries.

2007, Vivek Iyer, chapter 8, in Samlee’s Daughter: A Novel, Great Britain: Polyglot Publications, →ISBN, section I:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, dated) Relating to Urania, the Muse of astronomy.


Uranian

Aphrodite Pandemos
Aphrodite Urania
Louvre
Voyager 2

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

[T]he fury of a fiery hot-brained Marsian, may kindle immediate and incessant wrangling and feuds; whilst a quiet placid Uranian, in his turn, may yet at times be excessively annoyed, ay, worried and tormented, by the tardiness, listlessness and inactivity of his dronish companion.

1839, A Fantastical Excursion into the Planets, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 172:

And obviously, since the year of the Uranians lasts 84 of our years, the continuance of the sun above the horizon would last for many years. [...] And as with the summer day, so with the winter night, years elapse before either comes to an end. For upwards of 20 years, in a latitude corresponding to that of London, the Uranians—if there are any—never see the small Uranian sun.

1872, Richard A[nthony] Proctor, “Uranus and Neptune, the Arctic Planets”, in Other Worlds than Ours: The Plurality of Worlds Studied under the Light of Recent Scientific Researches, 3rd edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 171–172:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Uranus.


highlander

(Scotland) A person who inhabits the Scottish Highlands.


Canuck

Canucks (plural)
canuck (alternative)
Canack (alternative)
Cannack (alternative)
Canuc (alternative)
canuc (alternative)
Canuk (alternative)
Conuck (alternative)
Cunnuck (alternative)
Kanuck (alternative)
Kanuk (alternative)
K'nuck (alternative)

American Dialect Society
Greenwood Publishing Group
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Leiden University
University of Alabama Press

Origin uncertain, often hypothesized to derive from the name or speech of an early Canadian minority, later broadened to denote all Canadians:
* Since 1975, many scholars have come to think the name is from Hawaiian kanaka (“man”), a self-appellation of indentured colonial canoemen and Hawaiian sailors working off the Pacific Northwest, Arctic, and New England coasts, from French canaque (“indigenous Melanesian inhabitant of New Caledonia, Kanak”); or, more likely, American whalers’ pidgin, then re-interpreted as Can(adian) + a suffix. (More below on that [specific] putative suffix.) Compare English Kanak and German Kanake.
* Some dictionaries suggest it is derived from the first syllable of Canada, or its etymon Laurentian kanata (“village”), or a related word kanuchsa meaning “villager” in either Laurentian or another Iroquoian language; with the second syllable connected to Inuktitut inuk (“man; person”), from Chinook (“Aboriginal people of the U.S. Pacific Northwest”), or another First-Nation language ending like -oc, -uc, or -uq.
* Fanciful and unlikely suggestions include German genug von Canada (literally “enough of Canada”) (allegedly uttered by German mercenaries during the American War of Independence), French quelle canule (“what a bore”) (allegedly uttered by the French during a siege of Quebec), or the surname Connaught /ˈkɑ.nəxt/ (supposedly a French-Canadian nickname for the Irish).

noncog

French Canadian
French Canadian#Adjective

(Canada, US, informal, sometimes derogatory) A Canadian person; specifically (archaic), a French Canadian person; a pea-souper; also (obsolete) a Canadian person of other non-English descent.

(ice hockey) A member of the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team belonging to the National Hockey League.

Canucksin pelaaja

(skiing) Chiefly as Crazy Canuck: a member of the Canadian alpine ski team.

Canadians are somewhat jealous of the Americans; that they are secretly manœuvering, not exactly with the inoffensive good humor of a much respected yeoman of England, […] but rather after the inordinate example of Ahab of old, so pithily recorded by the sacred historian. Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or French Canadian, by the term Kanuk.

[1835, [Henry Cook Todd], Notes upon Canada and the United States of America: In the Year MDCCCXXXV […], Toronto, Ont.: […] W[illiam] J[oseph] Coates, […], →OCLC, paragraph 263, page 92:

We saw a few partridges: we also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him, who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck:' a (Canadian).

1849, James E[dward] Alexander, chapter XV, in L’Acadie; or, Seven Years’ Explorations in British America. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 272–273:

It is a pity these Canadian militiamen spoilt the good work they had done by never-failing bluster. But for pure and unadulterated brag I will back the lower-class Canuck against the world. The Yankee is a very sucking dove compared to his northern neighbour.

1889, John G[eorge] Donkin, chapter XIII, in Trooper and Redskin in the Far North-West: Recollections of Life in the North-West Mounted Police, Canada, 1884–1888, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington […], →OCLC, page 148:

[T]he Canucks were ready with bats, hands, feet and heads, to outplay the locals at all points. They did it to a nicety. It is wonderful to contemplate the quality of ball speiled by the Canucks when their lungs are filled with Rochester air.

1895 August 26, “Sports of field and track: Toronto 14, Rochester 11—first game”, in Democrat and Chronicle, volume 63, number 238, Rochester, N.Y.: Rochester Printing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11, column 1:

He's got a Canuck a-workin' for him, and I'd livser trust a wolf 'n one o' them pea-soupers.

1898, Rowland E[vans] Robinson, “Forebodings of Storm”, in A Hero of Ticonderoga, Burlington, Vt.: Hobart J[oseph] Shanley & Co., →OCLC, page 140:

The new-comers were a couple of farmers from Minnesota, genuine Americans from birth; wise men, with a keg of good water in their waggon. "And don't you want to be Americans any longer?" I asked. "No," said they most emphatically, "we're Canucks now."

1907 May, Howard Angus Kennedy, “The Dry Patch”, in New Canada and the New Canadians, 2nd edition, London: Horace Marshall & Son, published October 1907, →OCLC, page 192:

One person who realizes that the Canadian troops in England have healthy appetites is Corp. J. R. Johnstone, chief butcher of a unit. He and his 16 assistants drag from huge refrigerators eight tons of meat per day for the hungry Canucks; and every other day when rationing is less severe the butchers carve up 16 tons of lamb, beef and pork.

1940 August 9, “Troops pack it away”, in Toronto Daily Star, Toronto, Ont.: The Toronto Star Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 7:

The Scottish skip [Alex F. Torrance] missed a wide open takeout in the fifth leaving the Canucks another single.

1964 March 19, Larry Wood, “Dagg stays unbeaten: Scotch Cup winner decided tonight”, in Richard L[ouis] Sanburn, editor, The Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alta.: The Southam Company, →ISSN, page 18, column 5:

[Jack] Kerouac's writings reveal that, although celebrated as an iconic American, he thought of himself as first and foremost Canadian. In La Vie est d'Hommage, he writes, "I am French Canadian. When I am angry, I often swear in French; when I dream, I often dream in French." He went on to say that "all my knowledge comes from my being French Canadian.” But as a Canuck in the United States, he felt patronized. He needed to hide his true self. Even with his friends in New York, with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, he was "a completely different man. We have to live in English, it's impossible to live in French. This is the secret thought of the Canuck in America."

2016 June 12, Richard Stursberg, “The Secret Canadian Life of Jack Kerouac: Reading Kerouac’s Lost French Writings Reveals the Travails of a Canuck in America”, in Maclean’s, Toronto, Ont.: Maclean-Hunter Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-06-04:


Canuck

"Oh, monsieur, monsieur, ayez pitie de moi; je suis honnète et vous paierai dix fois autant." / "You blasted scoundrel that you are, I want none of your impertinence and Canuck lingo; go hunt up your dirty trash of hungry humbugs, that you shouldered upon me last evening.[…]"

1866, Andrew Learmont Spedon, “Tale III. Adventures with Religious Impostors.”, in Canadian Summer Evening Tales, Montreal, Que.: […] John Lovell, […], →OCLC, pages 71–72:

On the deacon-seat in the leapin' heat / With the corn-cobs drawin' cool and sweet, / And timin' the fiddle with tunkin' feet, / A hundred men and a chorus. / "Roule, roulant, ma boule roulant," / It 's all Canuck but a good old song; / Lift it up then, good and strong, / For a cozy night 's before us.

1904, Holman F[rancis] Day, “Kingdom o’ Spruce: Song of the Men o’ the Ax”, in Kin o’ Ktaadn: Verse Stories of the Plain Folk who are Keeping Bright the Old Home Fires up in Maine, Boston, Mass.: Small, Maynard & Company, →OCLC, page 145:

So Mama will say, Bon jour, Grack, tu viens enfin? That's Canuck for you ain't been a son to your ma. Can't you see by my skin and bones—I'm sick, I got a habit—I ain't my mama's anymore?

1956, Herbert Gold, “Round and round, the trick of want”, in The Man who was Not with It (An Avon Library Book), New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published March 1969, →OCLC, page 179:

(historical, rare) Synonym of Canadian French (“the French language as spoken by Francophones in Canada”).

kanadanranska

synonym of Canadian French — see also Canadian French


Ekavian

A dialect or group of dialects of Serbo-Croatian spoken primarily in Serbia and distinguished by reflecting the Common Slavic jat (Old Cyrillic: ѣ, Glagolitic: ⱑ, Latin transcription /ě/) sound as /e/.


Eochaid Feidlech

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, who deposed the former High King Fachtna Fáthach at the battle of Battle of Leitir Ruadh.


Fachtna Fáthach

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology who was deposed by Eochaid Feidlech at the Battle of Leitir Ruadh.


Fráech

From Middle Irish Fráech, from Old Irish Fróech, from fróech (“heather”), from Proto-Celtic *wroikos.

(Irish mythology) The Connacht hero in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology who wooed Findabair and Treblann, but was drowned in a river in a duel with Cúchulainn.


Nera

(Irish mythology) A warrior of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Rt Hon

Right Honourable
Right Honourable#English

Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(UK and Commonwealth politics) Abbreviation of Right Honourable. (in the titles of Members of Parliament)


Wanda

From Polish Wanda, possibly derived from an ethnic term for “a Wend”.

"Speaking of names, you're the first white Wanda I ever met."
Wanda peeled off two sweaters and a woolen scarf." Well, you're the fifth or sixth colored I've had to tell that Wanda is an old Polish name I inherited from my Polish great-grandmother on me sweet dead mother's side;

1998, Barbara Neely, Blanche Cleans Up, Penguin, published 1999, →ISBN, page 12:


Sherri

A female given name, variant of Sherry or Cheri.


Evan

Anglicization of Welsh Ifan, ultimately from Latin Jōhannēs, variant of Iōannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (yōḥānān, yokhanán, literally “God is gracious”). Doublet of Giovanni, Ian, Ivan, Jack, Jean, Johan, Johann, Johannes, John, Sean, Shane, Shaun, and Shawn.

doublet

A male given name from Welsh Ifan, equivalent to English John.


Trojan

Trojans (plural)
Troyan (alternative)
Troian (alternative)

/ˈtɹəʊd͡ʒən/

/ˈtɹoʊd͡ʒən/

From old forms Troyan, Troian, Middle English Troiā̆n, from Old English Trōiān, from Latin Troiānus, from Troia (“Troy”) + -ānus, from Ancient Greek Τροίᾱ (Troíā).

Trójan

astronomical object residing at a Trojan point

A student (especially an athlete) of the University of Southern California.


Troy

From Latin Troia, from Ancient Greek Τροία (Troía).


Troy

A male given name transferred from the surname, but today associated with the classical city.


Ethel

Short form of names of Old English [Term?] origin beginning with Ethel-, æþele (“noble”). First used in the 19th century. Cognate to the Germanic Adela and Adele.

If it is so false, and base, and hollow, this great world […] why does Ethel Newcome cling to it? Will you be fairer, dear, with any other name than your own?

1855, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes, Bradbury and Evans, page 95:

Charmian Lyle had given herself her first name at the age of sixteen, upon encountering it in an English novel. Her baptismal name was Ethel. When her husband Walter was extremely angry with her, he called her Ethel.
Charmian, she thought, suited her much better. She didn't think she looked, felt, or sounded like Ethel. Nor like her middle name, which she really detested, Edna.

1979, Mary McMullen, But Nellie Was So Nice, Doubleday, page 23:

A female given name from Old English, popular at the turn of the 20th century.


Fedlimid

A male given name from Irish, borne especially by a harper and the chief-storyteller in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Lyndsey

Lyndseys (plural)
Lindsay (alternative)
Lindsey (alternative)

Spelling variant. A less common spelling of Lindsay or Lindsey.

A female given name transferred from the surname.


Haligonian

(England) A native or inhabitant of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.


Albertan

Of, from or relating to Alberta (province of Canada).


Albertan

A native or inhabitant of Alberta (province of Canada).


Dorothy

The English form of Latin Dorothea, the name of a legendary saint, from Ancient Greek Δωροθέα (Dōrothéa), from δῶρον (dôron, “gift”) + θεός (theós, “god”).

Piſt[ol]. Then, to you miſtris Dorothy, I will charge you. / Doro[thy]. Charge me? I ſcorne you, ſcuruy companion: […]

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], signature [D4], recto:

"My name is Dorothy," said the girl, "and I am going to the Emerald City, to ask the great Oz to send me back to Kansas."

1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, “How Dorothy saved the Scarecrow”, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC, page 38:

Don't you think the world has gone steadily downhill ever since parents stopped naming their children Lucy and Dorothy and started naming them Samantha?

1990, Russell Baker, There's a Country in My Cellar, Morrow, →ISBN, page 418:


Proto-Germanic

Hypothetical prehistoric ancestor language of all Germanic languages, including English.

прагерма́нская

hypothetical prehistoric ancestor language — see also Germanic


Edgar

From Old English Ēadgār, the name of early English kings, from Old English ēad (“rich”) + gār (“spear”). Compare Icelandic Auðgeir.

What? did my father's godson seek your life? He whom my father nam'd? your Edgar?

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

My father was the eldest of three sons, each of whom was given Adelia's idea of a high-toned name: Norval and Edgar and Percival, Arthurian revival with a hint of Wagner.

2000, Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin, Random House, →ISBN, page 62:


Lucy

Lucy
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Saint Lucy

From Middle English Lucy, from Old French Lucie (notably after the Christian martyr Lucia of Syracuse), from Latin Lucia (feminine of Lucius, a Roman praenomen), from lux (“light”).
The name of the Australopithecus skeleton came from the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", which was being played repeatedly at the dig site camp at the time of the discovery. The slang term for LSD also derives from the song name, which many believe is essentially a reference to the drug.

Then did my younger brother Amidas / Love that same other Damzell, Lucy bright,/ To whom but little dowre allotted was;/ Her vertue was the dowre, that did delight.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 9:

She lived unknown, and few would know / When Lucy ceased to be;/ But she is in her grave, and, oh,/ The difference to me!

1798, William Wordsworth, She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways:

But certainly there are some names which seem to belong to particular classes of character, to form the mind and even influence the destiny: Louisa, now; - is not your Louisa necessarily a die-away damsel, who reads novels, and holds her head on one side, languishing and given to love! Is not Lucy a pretty soubrette, a wearer of cast gowns and cast smiles, smart and coquettish!

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

Now we'll just use a fiction name / Lucy that sounds nice / A name we can remember / Without repeating twice / / My name is so old fashioned / And they are very few / But some will have a puzzled look / And whisper Lucy who?

2009 Dora Raymond, Aunt Dora's Legacy, AuthorHouse, page 19 ( Lucy Who )


Old Frisian

a West Germanic language spoken on parts of the North Sea coast of modern Netherlands and Germany until the 16th century


Old Irish

The Irish language as attested from the sixth to the tenth centuries C.E., the oldest form of the Goidelic languages for which extensive texts (written in the Latin alphabet) are extant.


Gilgamesh

/ˈɡɪl.ɡə.mɛʃ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-Gilgamesh.wav

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒄑𒂆𒈦 (Gilgameš), from Sumerian 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌 (ᵈgilgameš₂ /Gilgameš/)

lbor

A semi-legendary king of Uruk, who is the hero of the Babylonian poem Epic of Gilgamesh.


Amata

From Latin amāta (“loved, beloved”); feminine perfect passive participle of amāre (“love”). It can also be interpreted as the feminine form of the saint's name Amātus.

A female given name from Latin; always rare in English.


bedouin

bedouins (plural)
Bedouin (alternative)
Bedu (alternative)
Beduin (alternative)

From Old French beduin (compare French bédouin), from Arabic بَدَوِيِّين (badawiyyīn), plural of بَدَوِيّ (badawiyy), from collective noun بَدْو (badw, “nomads”).

A member of nomadic Arab tribes dwelling in the desert.


Jake

Originally a medieval variant of Jack; today also used as a diminutive form of Jacob and James.

Brett smiled at him. "I've promised to dance this with Jacob," she laughed. "You've a hell of a biblical name, Jake."

1927, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 3, in The Sun Also Rises:

Her attendant - Jake, she had called him, which seemed an appropriate name for a redheaded, no-neck redneck with the muscles of a dedicated weight lifter - -

1985, Ed McBain, Snow White and Rose Red, page 10:


Leslie

From a placename in Aberdeenshire, originally Lesslyn, Scottish Gaelic lios cuileann (“garden of hollies”).

der

A male given name transferred from the surname.

'Leslie with an "ie",' she had to tell everyone in England because they spelt it with a 'y'. 'Really?' Dominic's mother said, as if Leslie herself was a spelling mistake.

2010, Kate Atkinson, Started Early, took My Dog, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 19:

A female given name transferred from the surname, of mostly American usage.

A number of places in the United States:

A minor city in Searcy County, Arkansas.

A township and city therein, in Ingham County, Michigan.

Greenbrier County
Greenbrier County#English

An unincorporated community in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.


Erica

A feminine form of Eric, ultimately from Old Norse. The name has also been associated with the flower genus.

Erika (alternative)
Ericka (alternative)
Erykah (alternative)

But Erica Mann Jong is, alas, just as patriarchal as Erica Jong. When Thomas Mann's daughter, Erika, was alive, the confusion of names bothered me. My parents had met and admired Thomas Mann. They loved his daughter's name and wished creativity upon me. Erica means white flower in German, and queen in old Scandinavian, but to them, it meant writer.

1994, Erica Jong, Fear of Fifty, page 140:

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


Katrina

A female given name from Ancient Greek. A variant of Catherine.


Rita

Ritas (plural)
Reta (alternative)
Reeta (alternative)
Reeta (alternative)

From Romance (Italian rita, Spanish Rita). A shortening of Italian Margherita, and Spanish Margarita, cognates of English Margaret. An Italian Saint Rita was canonized in 1900. The English name came into regular use in early twentieth century.

Born Margarita Carmen Cansino to Eduardo and Volga Haworth Cansino on October 17, 1918, in New York City, Rita Hayworth was no stranger to show business.

1993, Diane Telgen, Jim Kamp, editors, Notable Hispanic American Women, VNR AG, →ISBN, page 194:

A female given name from the Romance languages, Italian, or Spanish.


Rita

Ritas (plural)
Reetha (alternative)
Retha (alternative)
Ritha (alternative)
Reeta (alternative)
Reta (alternative)
Reeta (alternative)

From South Asian languages, from Sanskrit रीता (rītā).


Constantine

From Latin Cōnstantīnus, the name of Roman emperors, notably that of Constantine the Great, Latin cōnstāns (“constant, steadfast”). Doublet of Konstadinos.

Helen, the mother of great Constantine
 Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters were like thee.

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 I, scene ii]:


international auxiliary language

en-noun

international auxiliary language (plural international auxiliary languages)

international auxiliary languages (plural)

(linguistics) A language intended to be used by people who do not share a common language.


Pech

An indigenous Amerindian language spoken in Honduras.


All Blacks

the national rugby union representative team of New Zealand


Rabbie

A Scottish form of Robbie, a short form of the male given name Robert.


Robbie

A diminutive of the male given name Robert, particularly popular in Scotland.

A diminutive of the female given name Roberta.


Venda

The language of the people of this area.


Jovan

A transliteration of the Macedonian male given name Јован (Jovan), equivalent to John


Clyde

The name of a river in Scotland, from the Gaelic name Cluaidh, of uncertain origin. Possibly influenced by clut (“the cleansing one”).

(chiefly US) A male given name transferred from the place name (the River Clyde in Scotland).


Shannon

Captain Samuel Shannon is frequently mentioned in the public records, and he had something more than a local reputation. He must have been very popular, as the name "Shannon" as a Christian name is so common throughout the valley as to be noticeable.

1896, Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, C.M.Busch, state printer, page 283:

Everything in my life is okay except I have this terrible problem with my sister Shannon. I'm spelling her name the way most people would. She spells it Sionna ever since the priest told us that's the real Irish way to spell it. It's the name of a river and a goddess. Shanny doesn't think she's a river. She's really Shannon Marie.

2005, Andrew M. Greeley, Mary G. Durkin, The Book of Love, Macmillan, →ISBN, pages 193–194:

A unisex given name transferred from the surname or place name (from the river); first used in the USA in early 20th century, and only recently in Ireland.


Unabomber

From University and Airline Bomber, a name assigned by the FBI.

Based on the Unabomber’s manifesto, the smash movie of twenty thirty-four will be Barbarians in the Gates, the autobiographical return-to-nature philosophy of Bill Gates, Jr. Starring Oscar-winner, actor Cody Gifford.

2000 January 1, Roxanne Roberts, “Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me!”, in National Public Radio:

As a piece of writing, the rambling and often contradictory manifesto has the pathos of the Unabomber manifesto but lacks the ideological coherency.

2023 October 28, Elizabeth Spiers, “A Tech Overlord’s Horrifying, Silly Vision for Who Should Rule the World”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Ted Kaczynski, the perpetrator of mail bomb attacks in America between 1978 and 1994, so named by the media.


Pericles

From Latin Periclēs, from Ancient Greek Περικλῆς (Periklês, “far-famed”), from περί (perí, “around”) + κλέος (kléos, “glory”).

der

Perikles (alternative)
Periklis (alternative)

A male given name from Ancient Greek, of mostly historical usage


Bogdan

From Proto-Slavic *Bogъdanъ, a calque of Ancient Greek Θεόδωρος (Theódōros, “Theodore”, literally “gift of God”).

cog

A male given name from the Slavic languages.


Hudson

en-proper noun

Hudson (countable and uncountable, plural Hudsons)

(countable) A male given name transferred from the surname.


Erik

A spelling variant of Eric, or directly borrowed from modern Swedish Erik.

Eric (alternative)
Erick (alternative)
Eriq (alternative)
Erique (alternative)

San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson successfully underwent surgery to fix a muscle tear in his left forearm, according to the team. Per the Sharks, Karlsson is expected to be reevaluated in March.

2022 January 25, The Athletic Staff, “Sharks’ Erik Karlsson has surgery on left forearm; to be reevaluated in March”, in The New York Times:

A male given name from Old Norse, variant of Eric.


Bart

A diminutive of the male given name Bartholomew.


Iamblichus

Borrowed from Latin Iamblichus, from Koine Greek Ἰάμβλιχος (Iámblikhos), from Aramaic ימלכו (Yamlīḵū), perhaps originally a causative form of the verb מלך (mlk, “to rule”).

A male given name from Koine Greek, of historical usage.

Iamblichus (c. 245 – c. 325), a Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher.


Waquita

A female given name originating as a coinage, of African-American usage.


Tina

Tina (countable and uncountable, plural Tinas)

Short form of Christina or of any female name ending in -tina, such as Martina or Albertina; frequently from Latin -ina

A female given name.
A female given name from Ancient Greek.

A female given name.
A female given name from Latin.


Norfuk

the language spoken on Norfolk Island; a blend of English and Tahitian


Neave

Neave (countable and uncountable, plural Neaves)

Two main origins:
* A variant of the English surname Neve.
* Variant of Nevay, a Scottish habitational surname.

Neave was born in Utica, New York, into a wealthy Anglo-American family.

2018 January 12, Mark Swenarton, “Neave Brown obituary”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media Limited, retrieved 2024-03-31:

Since this photo was taken, my daughter Neave has grown up.

2024 March 30, Anna Cafolla, “‘We have five in our bed – any more and I wouldn’t sleep!’: meet the extreme [British] dog owners”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media Limited, retrieved 2024-03-31:


Xerxes

From Ancient Greek Ξέρξης (Xérxēs), from Old Persian 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 (x-š-y-a-r-š-a /Xšayāršā/, “ruler among kings”). Doublet of Ahasuerus.

der

A male given name from Old Persian mainly applied to historical and fictional characters.


Montague

en-proper noun

Montague (countable and uncountable, plural Montagues)


Jeremy

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 2:17:

He had the name of Jeremy given to him, because Jeremiah, as his father said, was a family name; and there was an advantage in curtailing a syllable, and in showing a preference towards the names of the New Testament over those of the old.

1840, John Bowring, Memoirs of Jeremy Bentham. Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, p.169:

Fry: You don't meet many American Jeremies, do you? Have you ever met an American Jeremy?
Clarkson: No, it's too complicated. There's three syllables.

2004 October 22, QI, Season 2, Episode 4

A male given name from Hebrew, English form of Jeremiah. Also used to anglicize Irish Diarmaid (Dermot).


Ganesha

Ganesa (alternative)
Ganesh (alternative)

A male given name from Sanskrit used in India.


Titty

A diminutive of the female given name Letitia.


Polly

"Well, Johnny," she replied, rather hurt, "if you want to call me something else, you may do so; but I will not have any outlandish, ridiculous names. I don't like it much, but if you really wish it, you may call me Polly."
Polly, indeed! Mary was getting more and more prosaic.

1860, Elizabeth Harcourt Mitchell, The Lighthouse, Saunders, Otley and co., page 161:

A female given name from Hebrew, nickname for Mary created by rhyming with Molly.


Percy

From the Norman baronial surname from a place in Normandy (Percy-en-Auge), Old French Perci, Late Latin Persiacum, from the Gallo-Roman personal name Persius.

I have written again to ask if I may visit there sometime soon, and talk to the administrator, who it turns out is an old acquaintance, a man called Percival Quinn, I think the only Percy I have heard of in the present era, let alone met.

2008, Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture, Faber and Faber, →ISBN, pages 198 - 199:

A male given name transferred from the surname, of Middle Ages and later usage.


Marissa

Marisa (alternative)
Maryssa (alternative)
Merissa (alternative)

A female given name from Spanish, a contraction of Maria Lisa or Maria Luisa, though sometimes regarded as a re-interpretation of the name Melissa as a homophone in another European language.


anaphora

en-noun

anaphora (countable and uncountable, plural anaphoras or anaphora)

anaphoras (plural)
anaphora (plural)
anaphoras (alternative)
anaphors (alternative)
anaphors (alternative)

From Ancient Greek ἀναφορά (anaphorá, “a carrying back”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) + φέρω (phérō, “I carry”).

bor

Meronyms: epiclesis, preface, Sanctus, sursum corda

(Christianity) The most solemn part of the Divine Liturgy or the Mass during which the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as body and blood of Christ.


Church of England

The English branch of the Christian Church; (since the 16th century) specifically the established Protestant church in England which is the mother church of the Anglican Communion.


Meredith

en-proper noun

Meredith (countable and uncountable, plural Merediths)

Merediths (plural)
Merrihew (alternative)

What was his name now? Literary sort of name - I've got it. Meredith. Meredith Blake. Don't know whether he's alive or not.

1942, Agatha Christie, Five Little Pigs, HarperCollins, published 1994, →ISBN, page 26:

"What did I hear you say her name was?"
"Meredith. Mary and Edith. Names from both sides of the family."
"Meredith," he repeated softly. "I like it."

2004, Jo Goodman, Forever In My Heart, Zebra Books, →ISBN, page 412:

A female given name from Welsh; sometimes mistaken for a combination of Mary and Edith.

A number of places in the United States:

An unincorporated community in Pitkin County, Colorado.

An unincorporated community in Franklin Township, Clare County, Michigan.

A township in Wake County, North Carolina, mostly occupied by portions of Raleigh.


Wells

From Old English wella, genitive plural of well (“spring”), in reference to a residence near a group of springs. The original use of the genitive case here would've indicated origin. The -s ending of the modern form would be added later on upon reanalysis after the breakdown of the case system (outside of pronouns) that occurred in the development of English.

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Low German

High Dutch

antonym(s) of “West Germanic languages that are not High German”

High German

includes numerous Upper German and Middle German/Central German dialects from which Standard High German mainly developed

→ German: American Low German

Because northern Germany (Low Germany), where it is spoken, is lower in elevation than southern Germany.

A West Germanic language spoken in Low (i.e. Northern) Germany and north-eastern parts of the Netherlands, and formerly also in large parts of eastern and north-eastern Europe, which developed out of Middle Low German from Old Saxon; often treated as a dialect group of German (or Dutch) for convenience, but widely recognized as a separate language.

Plautdietsch

often refers specifically to the Mennonite Low German variety


Plattdeutsch

/ˈplɑtˌdɔɪt͡ʃ/

/ˈplætˌdɔɪt͡ʃ/

Platt Deutsch (alternative)
Platt-Deutsch (alternative)
Platt-deutsch (alternative)
Plat Deutsch (alternative)


Julia

From Latin Iūlia, feminine form of the Roman gens name Iūlius. Further popularized by early Christian saints. Doublet of Julie.

89 Julia
Julia
Julia (programming language)

Salute Philologus & Iulia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the Saints which are with them.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 16:15:

"Julia!" when alone he would exclaim; "what a sweet sounding and romantic name: Julia! what music and magic in its sound! 'tis a name worthy only the fairest and purest of creation!

1826 The New-York Literary Gazette and American Athenaeum, July 8, 1826, J.G.Brooks&G.Bond, page 216

“Why, I mean,” I replied, recoiling, “I mean—in short—that—in other words—I didn't know your name was Julia.”

"Why did you name her Julia?" Amy asked, letting the orange ice cream melt down the backs of her hands.
"Because it sounds dignified."

2000, Luanne Rice, Follow the Stars Home, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 93:


cerealogy

There is no university with a department of cerealogy, and consequently anyone may call him- or herself a "cerealogist," even after one single visit to a crop circle.

2001, Eltjo Haselhoff, The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research & Urban Legends, page xv:

Despite film showing the two men creating highly complex crop circles, the momentum behind cerealogy was too strong to be stopped by any admission of English eccentricity.

2002 August 12, “Cereal offenders who won't go away”, in Christian Science Monitor:

Patrick Moore, in Can You Speak Venusian, noted that — shades of cerealogy — the crops over a wide area had been flattened.

2005, Steve Dewey, John Ries, In Alien Heat: The Warminster Mystery Revisited, page 57:


delict

Borrowed from Latin delictum (“fault”), from neuter of delictus, past participle of delinquo (“to be lacking; to fail; to transgress”), from dē- + linquō (“to leave, quit, forsake, depart from”).

(civil law, Scots law) A wrongful act, analogous to a tort in common law.

civil law; Scots law; civil law; Scots law


Sid

A short form of the male given names Sidney and Siddhartha.

Alternative form of Syd (“unisex given name”).

A minor river in East Devon, England, which flows into the English Channel at Sidmouth.


Jesse

From Ancient Greek Ἰεσσαί (Iessaí), from Hebrew יִשַׁי (Yishai).

Jesse James was a lad that killed many a man, / He robbed the Glendale train. / He stole from the rich and he gave to the poor, / He'd a hand and a heart and a brain.

A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.

We had decided to change the spelling of our names. Mine was to become Jesse instead of Jessie, and hers was to be Meribeth, not MaryBeth. We signed these names to the test papers we turned in at school.
The teacher waved my paper in the air. "I can't give a mark to this person, because I don't know who this person is," she said. "Who is this Jesse?" She spelled the name out loud. "That is a boy's name. Does anybody here know a boy named Jesse?"

1985, Alice Munro, The Progress of Love, Chatto&Windus, published 1987, →ISBN:


Denise

French Denise, from Latin Dionysia (feminine form of Dionysius, a male name of Ancient Greek origin indicating "Dedication to Dionysus"). Dionysus is the mythological Greek god of wine responsible for growth of the vines and the originator of winemaking.

der

feminine form of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">Dionysius</i>, a male name of Ancient Greek origin indicating "Dedication to Dionysus"

Springfield resident Denise Williams' phone began blowing up on Monday while she was spending time with her children and grandchildren, not long after Vance posted.

2024 September 10, Huo Jingnan, Jasmine Garsd, “JD Vance spreads debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets”, in NPR:

A female given name from French, Latin, or Ancient Greek.


Isabella

Latinate and Italian form of Isabel. The grape cultivar is popularly thought to have been discovered by a Mrs Isabella Gibbs of South Carolina in 1816.

Can you so stead me,
As bring me to the sight of Isabella,
A novice of this place, and the fair sister
To her unhappy brother Claudio?

A contemporary, and usually very accurate chronicler, Bartholomew of Norwich, tells us that the queen called her infant by the barbarous name of Walkiniana; others again call her Isabella; but, in the wardrobe accounts, and all other state records, she is invariably designated Elizabeth.

1857 Mary Anne Everett Green, Lives of the Princesses of England, Vol. 3, page 2 ("Elizabeth, eighth daughter of Edward I")


Isabelle

A female given name from French Isabelle, ultimately a variant of Elizabeth.


Ysabel

R. Jeeves: In my experience, ladies who spell Gladys with a W are seldom noted for their reliability, sir. It gives them romantic notions.
B.W. Wooster: With a W, Jeeves? No, no, no, no. You spell it with a G.
R. Jeeves: If I might draw your attention to the signature on the portrait, sir.
B.W. Wooster: Good Lord! G-W?
R. Jeeves: I blame Alfred Lord Tennyson and his Idylls of the King. It also accounts for Kathryn, Ysabel, and Ethyl, all spelt with a Y, but Gwladys is a particularly virulent form, sir.

1993 May 16, “Return to New York”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 6:

Alternative form of Isabel: a female given name.


Romance language

en-noun

Romance language (plural Romance languages)

The five most widely-spoken Romance languages

in order of decreasing number of speakers: Spanish


Isabel

From Spanish Isabel, from Old Occitan Elisabel, from Latin Elisabeth, from Ancient Greek Ἐλισάβετ (Elisábet), from Hebrew אֱלִישֶׁבַע (Elishéva, “my God is an oath”). Doublet of Elizabeth.

der

Mariana. O my good lord! Sweet Isabel, take my part:
Lend me your knees, and all my life to come,
I'll lend you all my life to do you service.

There is a silvery bell-like music in the name, which is exceedingly attractive, and which has made it a favorite with the poets. - - - Mary Howitt, in her Flower comparisons, has the following melodious lines:
Now for mad-cap Isabel: / What shall suit her, pr'y thee tell? / Isabel is brown and wild; /Will be evermore a child;

1852 August, D. H. Jacques, “A Chapter on Names”, in The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XL, page 119:

I'm glad you spell your name like that. It's the best of all the ways to spell Isabel.

1994 Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), No Night Is Too Long, page 110

How many poor girls, who would have been wild and raging and beautiful and free sex goddesses if only their parents had found it in their hearts to name them Isabel, instead had to stuff their poor psyches into the name Heather?

2002, Cynthia Heimel, If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 177:


Marco

From Romance Marco (Italian Marco, Portuguese Marco, Spanish Marco).

A male given name from the Romance languages, equivalent to English Mark.

Marco mainly sells his clothes online.


Carlo

From Italian Carlo, from Latin Carolus, from Germanic. Doublet of Charles, Carl, and Carlos.

Charles, come here and be presented to your cousin, Mabel Earnshaw. His name is Carlo, but I couldn't possibly call him by it; it sounds so like a dog. At least, pronounced in my English fashion. And I can't roll my r's.

1867 June 15, Frances Trollope, “Mabel's Progress”, in All the Year Round, page 579:

A male given name from Italian, equivalent to English Charles.


Margot

"I like names that end with an a, don't you? Or other vowels? Most often it seems to be an a. But wait: Margo's name ends with an o, for mercy's sake! Barnaby's mother. Or it used to be o. Then she met Barnaby's father and added a t."
Sophia looked at me. I told her, "Mom thought Margot with a t was higher class."
"First time I saw it written that way was on the wedding invitations," Gram said. "She brought them home from the printer's and I said, 'Who's this?' She said, 'That's me.' Well, I did try to accommodate. Her dad said it was stuff and nonsense, but I told Jeffrey the next time he came to call, 'Mar-gott will be down in a minute.' He laughed because he thought I was joking but I was serious. I honestly assumed people pronounced the t."

1998 Anne Tyler, A Patchwork Planet, A.A.Knopf Inc., page 3


Paco

Borrowed from Spanish Paco, diminutive of Spanish Francisco. See also Spanish Pancho.


chemical equation

en-noun

chemical equation (plural chemical equations)

(chemistry) a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction; reactants are represented on the left, and products on the right


Jessika

A female given name from Hebrew, a rare modern spelling variant of Jessica