tribble

Probably invented for alliteration with trouble; the creatures first appeared in an episode called "The Trouble with Tribbles".

Scales have proliferated like tribbles in quadra-triticale: just intonations, equal temperaments, scales based on overtones, scales generated from a single interval or pair of intervals, scales without octaves, scales arising from arcane mathematical formulas, scales that reflect cosmological or religious structures, scales that "come from the heart."

1998, William A. Sethares, Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale, page 49:

The Hyper-Producing Playwrights of Edmondton: Or Why Alberta’s Capital Breeds New Plays Like Tribbles.

2008, Robin C. Whittaker, editor, Hot Thespian Action!, page 569:

They were like tribbles, multiplying by the dozens, cackling, giggling their maniacal joy at the game.

2010, Dakota Cassidy, chapter 19, in Accidentally Demonic:

They breed like tribbles, but at least they’re not terrestrial.

2015, Zanzibar 7. Schwarzenegger, Veneri Verbum, page 19:

A fictional alien creature in Star Trek, a fast-breeding, cooing ball of fur.


Chumash

From Ineseño čʰumaš (“the Santa Barbara Channel Island people”).

bor

The colonial given language name of this tribe.


Tajiki

The dialect of the Persian language spoken in Central Asia, especially in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.


Yamato

From Japanese 大和 (Yamato), itself of uncertain derivation, but likely related to 山 (yama, “mountains”). See Proto-Japonic *yamatə.


Adam

Adams (plural)
Adams (alternative)
Adams (alternative)
McAdam (alternative)
McAdams (alternative)
McCaw (alternative)
MacAdam (alternative)
MacAdams (alternative)
MacCaw (alternative)

From Middle English Adam, from Old English Adam, from Latin Adam, Adamus, from Ancient Greek Ἀδάμ (Adám), Ἄδαμος (Ádamos), from Biblical Hebrew אָדָם (adam, “earth, man, soil, light brown”), from אדמה (adamah, “red earth, ground”).

In his tall stalwartness Adam Bede was a Saxon, and justified his name; but the jet-black hair, made the more noticeable by its contrast with the light paper cap, and the keen glance of the dark eyes that shone from under strongly marked, proninent, and mobile eyebrows, indicated a mixture of Celtic blood.

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Workshop”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 3:

Since then I have deciphered some more of Adam’s hieroglyphics, and think he has now become sufficiently important as a public character to justify this publication.

1904, Mark Twain, Extracts from Adam's Diary:

What splendid names for boys there are! / There's Carol like a rolling car, / And Martin like a flying bird, / And Adam like the Lord's First Word,

1933, Eleanor Farjeon, “Boys' Names”, in Over the Garden Wall, Faber and Faber, page 90:

Adami

surname derived from Adam or its equivalents in other languages


Tigrinya

/tɪˈɡɹiːnjə/

From Tigrinya ትግርኛ (təgrəñña). The spelling Tigrigna came via Italian.

Tigrigna (alternative)
Tigriña (alternative)
Tigrinia (alternative)
Tigrinian (alternative)
Tigrinyan (alternative)
Təgrəñña (alternative)
Tégréñña (alternative)
Tegreñña (alternative)

A Semitic language of Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is written in the Ge'ez alphabet.

提格利尼亞語 /提格利尼亚语

tígélìníyàyǔ


ay

→ Rohingya: ee

→ Tagalog: ey

It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh."

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

ETA [is spoken] as "ee-tee-ay" instead of "I SPELL Echo Tango Alfa".

2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), p. 3-5

The name of the Latin-script letter A/a.


Ave Maria

Ave Marias (plural)
Ave Mary (alternative)

/ˈɑːveɪ̯ məˈɹiːə/

From Middle English Ave Maria, Ave Marie, Ave Mary(e), from Latin Avē Marīa.

Hail Mary (Catholic prayer, part of the rosary)


feu

(Scots law, property law, historical) Land held in feudal tenure.


feu

en-verb

feu (third-person singular simple present feus, present participle feuing, simple past and past participle feued)

feus (present singular third-person)
feuing (participle present)
feued (participle past)
feued (past)

1813, "Keith", Entry in Nicholas Carlisle, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, Volume II, unnumbered page,
The Village of OLD KEITH is of ancient date, having been partly feued by the predecessors of the Family of Forbes, and partly feued by the Ministers, and stands upon the glebe: this Village is greatly on the decline, and almost a ruin.—About the year 1750, the late Lord FINDLATER divided a barren Muir, and feued it out in small lots […] .

1841, Alexander Dunlop, J. M. Bell, John Murray, James Donaldson (reporters), Cases Decided in the Court of Session, Volume 3, 2nd Series, page 620,
The prohibition of feuing beyond a certain extent was clearly implied; […] .

But in effect, whereas Heriot's knew that their feuing conditions were subordinate to the law of contract, the Earl of Moray knew by 1822 that as a result of the Lords' decision in 1818 estate development could not be controlled by contract law and the feuing plan.[…]The impact on the Moray estate was that[…]despite a recession in the Edinburgh property market generally after 1826, virtually the entire estate was feued by 1836.

2001, Richard Rodger, “The Transformation of Edinburgh: Land, Property and Trust in the Nineteenth Century”, in Paperback, Cambridge University Press, published 2004, page 68:

(Scots law, transitive) To bring (land) under the system of feudal tenure.


Hettie

A variant spelling of Hetty, diminutive of the female given names Henrietta, Esther and Hester.


Ryan

en-prop

Ryan (countable and uncountable, plural Ryans)

Ryans (plural)
O'Ryan (alternative)
Rian (alternative)
Ryann (alternative)
Ryanne (alternative)
Ryana (alternative)

Bryan

linguistically unrelated but often confused in spoken English

The geneticist said Ryan had a rare genetic disorder called mucopolysaccharidosis I, or MPS I, with a wide-range of symptoms affecting multiple systems in the body.

2017 May 13, Ashley Strickland, “Warned he would die by age 10, he just graduated college”, in CNN:

A male given name transferred from the surname, popular in English-speaking countries from the 1970s to the 1990s.

رَيَّان ريان#Arabic

A male given name from Arabic رَيَّان (rayyān). Sometimes written and pronounced as Ryan in English due to the phonetic similarity with the Arabic name.

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

A female given name of 1970s and later usage, variant of Rhian.


Chechen

From Russian чечен- (čečen-), the root in чече́нец (čečénec, “a Chechen man”) or чече́нский (čečénskij, “Chechen (adjective)”).

The language of the Chechens, a member of the Nakh family.


Mary

Marys (plural)
Maries (plural)
Marie (alternative)

→ Cantonese: Mary

→ Cebuano: Mary, Marie

→ Danish: Mary

→ Faroese: Marý

→ Hawaiian: Mele, Mere

→ Japanese: マリー (Marī)

desc

→ Mandarin: 瑪麗 /玛丽 (Mǎlì), 瑪莉 /玛莉 (Mǎlì), 瑪利 /玛利 (Mǎlì)

→ Manx: Mayree

→ Maori: Mere, Meri

→ Norwegian: Mary

→ Scottish Gaelic: Màiri

→ Swedish: Mary

→ Tahitian: Mere

→ Tok Pisin: meri

→ Thai: แมรี (mɛɛ-rii)

From Middle English Marie, from Old French Marie, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מַרְיָם (maryām) or Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryām), of uncertain meaning (see the Hebrew entry for more). Doublet of Miriam, Marie, Maria, and Mariah.

Maria

Mary, mother of Jesus — see also Madonna, Mother of God, Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, Saint Mary, Theotokos, Virgin Mary
Note: Translations for Mary's various titles and appellations should go in the respective entries.

I have a passion for the name of Mary,
For once it was a magic sound to me:
And still it half calls up the realm of fairy
Where I beheld what never was to be.

1821, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Fifth: IV:

Mary, which is as common as a white violet, and like that has something indestructibly sweet and simple, and fit for all wear, high or low, suits the cottage or the palace, the garden or the field, the pretty and the ugly, the old and the young;

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

For it was Mary; Mary / Plain as any name can be / But with propriety, society / Will say "Marie". / But it was Mary; Mary / Long before the fashions came / And there's something there that sounds so square / It's a grand old name.

1905 George M.Cohan, Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, Mary is a Grand Old Name ( a song)

They had called their children Ann, Mary, and John as a reaction against their own fancy tricksy names. Both mothers thought these names sadly unimaginative and each blamed the child of the other for the lack of vision and style.

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

A female given name from Aramaic or Hebrew.


shrine

From Middle English shryne, from Old English scrīn (“reliquary, ark of the covenant”), from Medieval Latin scrīnium (“reliquary”), “case or chest for books or papers” in Classical Latin. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Compare Old Norse skrín, Old High German skrīni (German Schrein).

der

Entering the tunnel, we pass a small shrine above our heads which contains a statue of St Barbara, the patron saint of tunnellers. It is traditional to have such shrines on every tunnel site.

2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 41:

A holy or sacred place dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, or similar figure of awe and respect, at which said figure is venerated or worshipped.

shenjtë

a holy place dedicated to a specific figure of respect


Andreas

From Ancient Greek Ἀνδρέᾱς (Andréās), cognate with ἀνδρεῖος (andreîos, “manly”), both from ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”). Doublet of Andrew.

A male given name from Ancient Greek from the Latin form of Andrew.

Ανδρέας Ανδρέας#Greek

A transliteration of the Greek male given name Ανδρέας (Andréas).


Mozarabic

/məʊˈzæɹəbɪk/

A continuum of closely related Romance dialects spoken in Muslim-dominated areas of the Iberian Peninsula during the early stages of the development of the Romance language in Iberia.


Richard

From Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Medieval Latin Richardus and Ricohardus, from Frankish *Rīkahard, from Proto-Germanic *Rīkaharduz, a construction of *rīks (“king, ruler”) + *harduz (“hard, brave”). Cognate with Old High German Rīcohard (“Richard”). A hypothetical Old English equivalent *Rīċheard would also yield an identical "Richard" in Modern English, though it is unknown if the Old English equivalent existed.

compound

What! do I fear myself? there's no one else by; / Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

But we have known Williams and Richards, names not found in sacred story, but familiar to our country, prove as gracious saints as any Safe deliverance, Fight the good fight of faith, or such like,

1629, Thomas Adams, Meditations upon Creed: The Works of Thomas Adams, James Nichol (1862), volume 3, page 212:

I'd love to live in our castle. First I'd change my name from Dickie to Richard. That's my real name and it's a good king name. I don't like being called Dickie anyway, and I don't want to be Dick Junior either because everybody starts calling you Junior. What I'd like to be called is Rich but I don't know how to start people doing it.

1985, William Wharton, Pride, →ISBN, page 97:

While the less-than-a-word improvement was statistically significant, it would be hard to tell if such a small change would improve a person’s life, said Alzheimer’s disease researcher Dr. Richard Isaacson, a preventive neurologist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Florida.

2023 May 24, Sandee LaMotte, “Can a daily multivitamin slow cognitive aging? Maybe”, in CNN:

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Jacky

Jackie (alternative)
Jacqui (alternative)

A nickname used instead of the male given name Jack, Jacques (and its cognates) or John.

A diminutive of the female given name Jacqueline.


Jackie

A diminutive of the male given name Jack, Jacques (and its cognates) or John.

A diminutive of the female given name Jacqueline or Jacquelyn.


Hally

A rare spelling variant of Hallie, diminutive of the female given name Harriet.


Bergamask

Bergamasks (plural)
Bergomask (alternative)

From the Italian bergamasco (“from Bergamo”), itself from German Bergheim (“mountain home”).

A rustic dance, supposedly typical of the region


Michal

(rather rare) A female given name from Hebrew.


Moabite

An extinct Canaanite Semitic language, spoken in Moab (modern-day northwestern Jordan). Extinct since 5th century BCE.


Danny

From Daniel and Danielle, from Hebrew דן, and -y.

A diminutive of the male given name Daniel.

A diminutive of the female given names Danielle, Daniella, or Daniela.


Pammy

A diminutive of the female given name Pamela.


Sammy

A diminutive of the male given name Samuel.

A diminutive of the female given name Samantha.


Brian

"What the deuce is their fancy for calling the young beggar Brian?" he inquired."Is it Brian Boroimhe they have gone back to, or is it some of her people, or what?"
"There was a good Drewitt once," answered Wilhelmina, "- - - and his name was Brian. - - - And Nannie told her, too, how a child always strains after the person it is called after, and how luck follows names, and worked her up to such a pit finally, that nothing would do her but the young gentleman must be called Brian and accordingly Brian he is - Brian Archibald. It is not an easy name to make fun out of; so all I can do is to call him Brin Baldy.

1865, Charlotte Eliza L. Riddell, Maxwell Drewitt, London: Tinsley Brothers, pages 255–256:

Why oh why had his parents even considered Brian? Brian is someone who works in a hardware shop or fixes the U bend. What chance did Sir Lovesdaslutalot have in life with a name like Brian? You can't even shorten Brian to Bri without it sounding like a kind of cheese!

2008, Phill Young, FarArc, Author House, →ISBN, page 145:


patronymic

patronymics (plural)
patronymick (alternative)

/ˌpætɹəˈnɪmɪk/

From Ancient Greek πατήρ (patḗr, “father”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”) (a variant form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”)). Also patronym + -ic, from patri- + -onym.

According to the applicant, for many years she had been living as part of a family with her stepfather, mother and half-brother and wanted to associate herself more closely with them by taking the surname of her stepfather and also a patronymic derived from his forename.
On 24 March 2004 the applicant lodged a request with the Civil Status Registration Office in Bila Tserkva (hereinafter “the Registration Office”) seeking to change her patronymic from Volodymyrivna (Володимирівна) to Yuriyivna (Юріївна).
By a letter of 27 March 2004 the Registration Office refused the applicant’s request, referring to the Rules on Civil Status Registration in Ukraine, approved by the Ministry of Justice, which provided that the patronymic of a physical person could only be changed in the event of a change of forename by his or her father.
On 23 April 2004 the applicant challenged this refusal in the Bila Tserkva Local Court. She complained that her patronymic, along with her forename and family name, was part of her full name and she had the right to change it. She maintained that the refusal violated her constitutional rights, was unconstitutional and was not based on law. She further contended that she had good reasons for changing her patronymic - to disassociate herself from her biological father and associate herself more closely with her stepfather and half-brother.

2013 May 16, European Court of Human Rights, Garnaga v. Ukraine, number 20390/07, marginal 7–10:

(by extension) A name acquired from one's father's, grandfather's or earlier (male) ancestor's first name. Some cultures use a patronymic where other cultures use a surname or family name; other cultures (like Russia) use both a patronymic and a surname.


David

en-proper noun

David (countable and uncountable, plural Davids)

From Middle English David, Davyd, Davyde, from Old English Dauid, David, from Latin David, Davidus, from Koine Greek Δαυίδ (Dauíd), Δαβίδ (Dabíd), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew דּוד (Dāwîḏ, literally “beloved”).

der

David Copperfield. Dwight David Eisenhower. Michelangelo's David. None of these Davids would seem the same if their names were Dave. David, with its final "d", sounds finished and complete, whereas Dave just kind of hangs there in the air, indefinitely.

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

Well, don't think I'll settle for so little, Mr. Talbot. Or should I call you David? I think you look like a David, you know, righteous and clean living and all of that.

2000, Anne Rice, Merrick, Ballantine Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 157:

(rare) A female given name, often combined with a feminine middle name (e.g. David Ann).

A city, the capital of Chiriquí province, Panama.

A former unincorporated community in Mitchell County, Iowa, United States.

An unincorporated community and coal town in Floyd County, Kentucky, United States.

A barangay of Mangaldan, Pangasinan, Philippines.

A barangay of San Jose, Tarlac, Philippines.


ET

en-noun

ET (countable and uncountable, plural ETs)

(uncountable) Initialism of Eastern Time (-5 hours to GMT).


Dannie

From Daniel or Daniella; from Hebrew דן, and archaic English -ie.

A male given name, a less common variant of Danny.

A female given name, also used for conjoining names (e.g. Dannie Rae).


Sodom

Partially from Old English Sodome, Sodoma, partially from Ancient Greek Σόδομα (Sódoma), from the Biblical Hebrew סְדֹם (s'dóm).
(Wadham College): Chosen for the rhyme.

(biblical, Quranic) A city in the Middle East which, according to the Bible and Islamic tradition, but not specifically named in the Qur'an, was destroyed by God (along with Gomorrah) for the sins of its inhabitants.


Old English

(linguistics, history) The ancestor language of Modern English, also called Anglo-Saxon, spoken in most of Britain from about 400 to 1100.


Arab

From Arabic عَرَب (ʕarab, “Arabs”) or back-formation of Arabic.

A Semitic person, whose forebears were from the Arabian Peninsula

Having taken a very early breakfast, I mounted about eight o'clock my grey Arab, and without anything occurring worthy of note, killed the first three boars in the space of an hour, […]

1887, Edward B. Baker, Sport in Bengal: and How, When, and where to Seek it, page 61:

a. 1892, Charles Spurgeon, a sermon
You Christian people often see the little gutter children — the poor little arabs in the street — and you feel much pity for them, as well you may.

The other day I heard you complaining of the nuisance that small ragged street-boys are to you whenever you go out. […] You wished that some one would do something to clear away these little Arabs, as you are pleased to call them, so that a fine old English gentleman—as you are pleased to think yourself—might take his exercise in peace.


coupon

From French coupon, from couper (“to cut”).

(UK politics, historical) The letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the coalition government.


Alice

From Middle English Alice, from Old French Alys, Alice, from Old High German Adalheidis, proposed to derive from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz (“noble”) + *haiduz (“character”). Doublet of Adelaide.

af

"My name is Alice, but—"
"It's a stupid name enough!" Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently. "What does it mean?"
"Must a name mean something?" Alice asked doubtfully.
"Of course it must," Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh, "my name means the shape I am—and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost."

1871, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, Chapter 6:

She was heavenly to look at, and graceful, both in and out of water. She was a sculptress. She was christened 'Alice', but she used to deny that she was really an Alice. I agreed. Everybody agreed. Sometime in a dream maybe I will find out what her real name was.

1968, Kurt Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House, Delacorte Press, page xiv:

A female given name from the Germanic languages popular in England since the Middle Ages.


Cinderella

Cinderellas (plural)
cinderella (alternative)

/ˌsɪndəˈɹɛlə/

From cinder + -ella, as in little cinder girl. Compare French Cendrillon.

(rare) A female given name originating as a coinage.


aitch

aitches (plural)
haitch (alternative)
ache (alternative)

→ Arabic: إِتْش (ʔitš)

→ Greek: έιτς (éits)

→ Japanese: エイチ (eichi), dated エッチ (etchi)

→ Korean: 에이치 (eichi)

→ Malay: hec

desc

→ Persian: اِچ (eč, “English letter H”), اِیچ (eyč, “English letter H”)

→ Russian: эйч (ejč, “English letter H”)

→ Tagalog: eyts

→ Thai: เอช (éech), เฮช (héech)

From Middle English ache, borrowed from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca. (Compare Italian acca.) The source is unclear, but may descend from the vowelless alphabetic sequence ha ka 'H, K' (becoming [aka] when the [h] ceased to be pronounced), as K had low frequency in Late Latin. Doublet of ecchi.

The word hour is written with a silent aitch.

Cockneys drop their aitches.

The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch.

1773 October, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged:

"If you've got any drawing-room manners, or a dislike to eating peas with a knife or dropping aitches, you'd better chuck 'em away. They ain't no further use."

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 257:

She frowned, hearing Lim Cheng Po's voice, so English, so refined, so very English upper-class. And often she had had to tell Joe about his aitches.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 469:

The name of the Latin-script letter H/h.


Yugoslavian

Yugoslavians (plural)
Jugoslavian (alternative)


Romeo

From Italian Romeo, from Ancient Greek Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos, “Roman”).

der

A male given name from the Romance languages.


Juliet

Juliet
Juliet (disambiguation)
Measure for Measure

/ˈd͡ʒuːlɪɛt/

Borrowed from Italian Giulietta, diminutive of Giulia, from Latin Iūlia, feminine of Iūlius, a Roman family name. Cognate with French Juliette.

"All I ask," she says, fitting the cigarette into a holder, "is that you don't call me Juli-et. I cannot abide Juli-et. It maddens me!" "Yes, ma'am." "Here, we say Joolyut. Joolyut. Joolyut. Say it for me."

1977, Timothy Findley, The Wars, Delacorte Press/S. Lawrence, →ISBN, page 110:


Saul

From Hebrew שָׁאוּל (shaúl, “asked for”). Doublet of Silas, which derived from Aramaic.

“You got an uncle named Saul?” “I never mentioned him?” “What are you saying —you got some Jewish guy for an uncle?” “He's not Jewish. It's just a name they have back in the old country.”

2000, Peter Abrahams, Crying Wolf, Ballantine Books, →ISBN:


James

en-prop

James (countable and uncountable, plural Jameses)

⇒ English: Jim (diminutive)

⇒ English: Jimmy, Jimmie, Jimmi, Jimi (diminutive)

⇒ English: Jimbo (diminutive)

→ Hindi: जिम्बो (jimbo)

→ Hawaiian: Kimo

⇒ English: Jem (diminutive)

⇒ English: Jemmy (diminutive)

⇒ English: Jamie, Jamey (diminutive)

⇒ English: Jay (diminutive)

desc

→ Chinese: 詹姆斯 (Zhānmǔsī) (transliteration)

→ Cornish: Jammes, Jamma

→ Danish: James

→ Fijian: Semesa

→ Icelandic: James

desctree

→ Irish: Séamas, Séamus, Seumas
→ English: Seamus, Shamus

→ Manx: Jayms

→ Maori: Hemi

→ Samoan: Semisi

→ Scottish Gaelic: Seumas
→ English: Hamish

→ Swedish: James

→ Welsh: Siâms

The English New Testament form of Jacob, from Middle English James, from Old French James, from Vulgar Latin Iacomus, spoken and altered pronunciation of Latin Iacobus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Ἰακώβ (Iakṓb), from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿăqōḇ). Doublet of Jacques, Jacob, Iago, Jago, Yago, Hamish, Seamus, and Santiago. In reference to the Ecuadorian island, a modification of the earlier name Duke of York's Island after its eponymous duke's coronation as James II of England.
See Occitan Jacme for an intermediary between Old French James and Catalan Jaume.

der

Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿăqōḇ)

doublet

[…] And Normans call me James Fitz-James. / Thus watch I o'er insulted laws, / Thus learn to right the injured cause. […]

1810, Walter Scott, “Canto VI. The Guard-room.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XXVIII, page 286:

Heaven only knows why a man with a strong biblical name like James wants to be a president named Jimmy.

1979 Charles Kuralt, Dateline America, Harcourt Brace Jovanocich, page 184

In the political drama that Donald Trump has created in Washington, he could not have dreamed up a more formidable adversary than James Comey.

2017 June 8, Maeve Reston, “Trump meets the ultimate adversary in James Comey”, in CNN:

A male given name from Hebrew popular since the Middle Ages. Also a common middle name.


Jacob

From Middle English Iacob, from Late Latin Iācōbus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (yaʿăqōḇ, literally “he will/shall heel”), from עָקֵב (ʿāqēḇ, “heel”). Doublet of James.

der

"Georgette. How are you called?" "Jacob." "That's a Flemish name." "American too." "You're not a Flamand?" "No, American." "Good, I detest Flamands." - - -
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 III, in The Sun Also Rises:


Sappho

(rare) A female given name from Ancient Greek.


yo

Yo sandwich has only bacon in it. Want some ketchup on that?

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of your.


Togarmah

From Biblical Hebrew תּוֹגַרְמָה (tōḡarmā).

(rare) A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.


Scots

Borrowed from Scots Scots, from Middle Scots Scottis, from Old English Scottysċ, a late variant of earlier Scyttisċ (“Scottish”). Doublet of Scottish.

A Germanic language closely related to English and descended from northern dialects of Middle English, spoken in parts of Scotland, now especially in the northeastern and southern regions of the country.


Anglo-Saxon

/ˌæŋ.ɡləʊˈsæk.sən/

From Anglo- + Saxon, from Latin Anglosaxones (Anglo-Saxones), Latin Angli Saxones (literally “the English Saxons”), as distinguished from the Continental Saxons.

Meronyms: Anglian, Kentish, Mercian, Northumbrian, West Saxon

(now rare) Synonym of Old English (language).


Kerry

* As an English surname, from a personal name derived from Old Norse Kári.
* As an Irish surname, from Ó Ciardha (“descendant of Ciardha”), from ciar (“black”).

A ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards with, effectively, four first names, would send the wrong message to the world. Also no candidate has ever been elected president, with a girl's name like "Kerry" for a "surname".

2004 The Bulletin, Australia, "Hustling Hustings", February 25, 2004

A surname from Middle English derived from the place name, or from the Middle English given name Kendrick.

Kerry O'Leary - for so was he called to distinguish him from those of the name in the adjoining county - soon made his appearance in the court-yard beneath.

1845, Charles James Lever, The O' Donoghue: A Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago, W. Curry, published 1845, page 26:

A male given name transferred from the surname or place name.

A female given name transferred from the surname or place name, originally of Australian usage, also spelled Keri, Kerri and Kerrie.


Tigger

From the initials of The Independent Group + -er.

Nor is there any sign that Corbyn is at present willing to make any overtures to the eight Tiggers and those who may be contemplating joining them.

2019 February 25, John Crace, “The Independent Group may have secured another Tory government. That's not an accident”, in British GQ:

For one Tigger in particular, Chuka Umunna, 2019 was quite a rollercoaster. Over the course of the year, he was an MP for Labour, an MP for The Independent Group, an MP for the Lib Dems, and then an MP for no one.

2020 January 31, Michael Deacon, “The 20 funniest moments of Brexit”, in The Telegraph:

In fact, Joan Ryan MP (the first Labour MP to jump ship to the Tiggers/Change UK) said, after I'd confessed to her about the dog shampoo, ‘Well, I think your coat looks very nice.’

2020 March 19, Rachel Johnson, Rake's Progress: My Political Midlife Crisis, →ISBN:

(informal, UK politics, historical) A member of The Independent Group for Change, a pro-European British political party that existed in 2019.


Karelian

A language closely related to Finnish, spoken in Karelia, Russia and Finland.


Ms

Mss (plural)
Mses (plural)
Ms. (alternative)
M/s (alternative)

Found since the 1600s as an abbreviation of mistress (whence also Miss and Mrs), a title which initially did not indicate marital status. Suggestions that the term be revived began in 1901, and referenced the fact that dialects such as Southern US English already made no distinction between Miss and Mrs (/ˈmɪz/) in speech. With the founding of Ms. magazine in 1971, the term quickly became widespread as an alternative to Miss and Mrs., which require knowing (and publicizing) the referent's marital status.

Ms Jane Doe, Ms. Roe

Title used before an adult woman's name or surname, especially when it is not desired or possible to indicate her marital status with Miss or Mrs.


Francie

A diminutive of the female given names Frances and Francine.


Middle English

The ancient or older language of Modern English, spoken in England and parts of Scotland (where it became Lowland Scots) from about 1100 AD to 1500 AD.


-ium

From Latin -um (neuter singular morphological suffix), based on Latin terms for metals such as ferrum (“iron”).

systematic element name
systematic element name#English

(chemistry) Used to form the temporary systematic element name of a metallic or nonmetallic element which is postulated to exist, or which has been newly synthesized and has not yet been assigned a permanent name.


Miriam

From Hebrew מִרְיָם (Miryam), possibly from Aramaic מרים (Maryām, “bitter”), from a root מר (m-r) meaning "to be bitter". The meaning of this name which is the Old Testament equivalent of Mary has been debated for centuries. Some other explanations are mutiny / rebellion / disobedience from a root מרי (m-r-y).


Leah

"I'm Leah Brennan. How can I help you...Gideon?" He gave a short laugh. "Leah! Nice name. Between the two of us, we sound like the Old Testament, don't we?"

2010, Cavn Wright, Bedtime Tales, Strategic Book Publishing, →ISBN, page 113:


Rachel

From Late Latin Rāchēl, from Ancient Greek Ῥαχήλ (Rhakhḗl), from Biblical Hebrew רָחֵל (rāḫēl, “ewe”). Doublet of Raquel.

Rachael (alternative)
Rachelle (alternative)
Rach (alternative)

Rachel is another modest, nun-like name, of the same order as Judith, and has the appropriate signification of a lamb.

1849 The Massachusetts Teacher, Massachusetts Teachers' Association, Vol. 2,page 26, January 1849

She keeps saying, You are mistaken Rachel. She says my name in that heavy earnest way. The Jewish Ra-chel. I like my name like that. I have always been pleased when people said Ra-chel. But when she says it, it is as if she was taking me over. Through my name.

1979, Doris Lessing, Shikasta, Knopf, published 1979, →ISBN, page 293:

I recognize that a name like Rachel goes against my whole "ordering a different dish from everyone else at the table" rule, but sometimes you really want a steak, and that's exactly what you should get. I love the name we gave our daughter. It's not dorky, not too whimsical, and not too stuck-up. To us it sounded sweet, sporty, smart, and beautiful. It also works well with Sachs.

2010, Rob Sachs, What Would Rob Do?, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:


Livonian

A Finno-Ugric language spoken in Latvia.


Old Church Slavonic

The first literary and liturgical Slavic language.

Ou Kerkslawies

the first literary and liturgical Slavic language

古代教会スラヴ語

こだいきょうかいスラブご

Old Slavonic

may also refer to Old East Slavonic or Proto-Slavic


sobriquet

sobriquets (plural)
soubriquet (alternative)

Borrowed from French sobriquet (“nickname”), from Middle French soubriquet (“a chuck under the chin”).

“The Bard” is a sobriquet of English playwright William Shakespeare.

The sobriquet of Johnny Appleseed attached to him, though his real name was Chapman, in consequence of his being ever engaged in gathering and planting appleseed and cultivating nurseries of apple trees.

1862, A. Banning Norton, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

They turned out to be speedy machines and earned the sobriquet "Greyhounds", giving excellent performances on the Exeter run.

1951 November, David R. Webb, “The Drummond 4-4-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 774:

A familiar name for a person or thing; a nickname (sometimes assumed by the person, but often given by others), that is descriptive.


Aryan

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

From Sanskrit आर्य (ā́rya, “noble; noble one”) + -n. The Sanskrit word is from Proto-Indo-Iranian *áryas (the original Indo-Iranian autonym). Borrowed into English in the 19th century, at first as a term for the Indo-Iranian languages, and later partly extended to the Indo-European languages and peoples following a theory by Friedrich Schlegel that connected the Indo-Iranian words arya/ā́rya with German Ehre (“honor”) and some older Germanic names, thus assuming that it was the original Indo-European autonym meaning "the honorable people". The original meaning of the Indo-Iranian autonym and its possible Indo-European origin/cognates are disputed (see the Wikipedia article for further details).
The same Proto-Indo-Iranian root is the ultimate source of the country name Iran.


Dubya

Representing a southern United States pronunciation of W, the middle initial of George W. Bush.

(often derogatory) A nickname for and abbreviation of George W. Bush.


nickname

→ German: Nickname

→ Japanese: ニックネーム (nikkunēmu)

From Middle English nekename, alteration (due to a rebracketing of an ekename as a nekename) of earlier ekename (“nickname”), from eke (“additional”) + name. Compare Old Norse aukanafn, auknafn, auknefni, Faroese eyknevni, Danish øgenavn, Norwegian Nynorsk aukenamn, Swedish öknamn, and German Low German Ökelname.
For other similar cases of incorrect division, see also apron, daffodil, newt, orange, umpire.

epithet

invented names used alongside the actual name

"The Big Apple" is a common nickname for New York City.

He excelled with the arbalest steel crossbow, winning the nickname the Arbalestier and joined Bahriyya regiment, the crack soldiers who defeated the Crusaders and became known as the Turkish Lions and the Islamic Templars.

2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 329:

A familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic.

My name is Jonathan, but I go by my nickname, Johnny.

A familiar, shortened or diminutive name for a person or thing.


Cory

On another poster are the names of the new class — unusual names (at least to me) like Wen Qi, Elijah, Yoav, Noni, Koray, Cai Ying and Julissa, along with more common names like Cory, Betty, Tammy, Jordan, Jeffrey, and Andrew.

2005, Robert L. Fried, The Game of School, Jossey-bass, →ISBN, page 42:

A male given name transferred from the surname, variant of Corey.

A female given name transferred from the surname, variant of Cori, masculine equivalent Corey.

Corazon "Cory" Aquino, the widow of the martyred Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., emerged as the person around whom all the oppositionists could coalesce.

1991, Clark D. Neher, Southeast Asia in the New International Era, Westview Press, →ISBN, page 58:

I went to high school with a girl named Corrine, though, and everyone called her Cory —

1998, Robyn Amos, Into the Night, →ISBN, page 61:

A diminutive of the female given names Cora or Corinne and similar sounding names.

(Philippines) A diminutive of the female given name Corazón, from Spanish.


Ladin

From Ladin ladin, itself from Latin latīnus. Doublet of Latin and Ladino.

A Rhaeto-Romance language (or dialect continuum), spoken primarily in the Italian portion of Tyrol and the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy.


Ladin

A person speaking Ladin as a mother tongue.


Moksha

From Moksha мокша (mokša, “a Moksha person”).

A language of the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family.

мăкшă чĕлхи

măkšă čĕlh̬i


eff

Why against printers all this noise? This summoning of blackguard boys? Why so sagacious in your guesses? Your effs, and tees, and arrs, and eſſes? Take my advice; to make you safe, I know a shorter way be half.

a. 1746 (date written), Jonathan Swift, “On the Irish Club”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 78:

‘Eff. You. En,’ said Mr Banstead. ‘Fun![…]’

1969, Michael Feld, The Sabbatical Year, London: Alan Ross Ltd, page 301:

A or an? When an indefinite article precedes an acronym or initialism, the choice between a and an follows from the pronunciation: / a FAQ file (“fack”; but “an FAQ file” with the alternate pronunciation “eff-ay-cue”) / an FTC commissioner (“eff-tee-cee”)

2019, Amy Einsohn, Marilyn Schwartz, “[Abbreviations and Symbols] Abbreviations”, in The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications, 4th edition, University of California Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Editorial Style), page 242:

‘S-S-C…sitting on a tree…eff-you-cee-kay-i-en-ji.’

2019, Anand Ranganathan, Chitra Subramaniam, The Rat Eater, Bloomsbury India, →ISBN:

Alternative spelling of ef; the name of the Latin-script letter F/f.


Robert

From Anglo-Norman Robert, from the Old Frankish cognate of Old High German Hrodperht (normalised form: Ruodberht), from Proto-West Germanic *Hrōþiberht, from Proto-Germanic *Hrōþiberhtaz (literally “shining glory”). Doublet of Rupert.

My brother Robert? Old Sir Robert's son? / Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man?

I hadn't even considered names for a girl. Robby it would be. Robert Douglas. Where the Douglas came from is another story, but the Robert came from me because I liked the sound. Robert was formal, dignified, important. Robert. And that was nearly as nice as the chance I'd have to call my little brother Rob and Robby.

1984, John Edgar Wideman, Brothers and Keepers: A Memoir, Mariner Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 93:

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Alexandra

en-proper noun

Alexandra (countable and uncountable, plural Alexandras)

/ˌæ.lɪɡˈzæn.dɹə/

/ˌæ.lɪɡˈzɑn.dɹə/

/ˌæ.lɪɡˈzɑːn.dɹə/

54 Alexandra
Alexandra
Alexandra, New Zealand
Queen Alexandra

From Ancient Greek Ἀλεξάνδρα (Alexándra), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “I defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-, stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”)). Feminine form of Alexander.
The community in Prince Edward Island is named after Queen Alexandra (1844–1925).

af

stem of <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">ἀνήρ</i> (anḗr, “man”)

Sea-king's daughter from over the sea, / Alexandra! / Saxon and Norman and Dane are we, / But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee, / Alexandra!

1863, Alfred Tennyson, A Welcome to Alexandra:

'I had a Christmas card from someone calling herself Alex the year before last,' Daniel said. 'I couldn't think who it was.'
'Oh, yes, she's changed again,' Alice said. 'I never got used to Alexandra, either. It never occurred to me that Sandra was short for Alexandra - anyway, she's Sandra on her birth certificate.'

2008, Philip Hensher, The Northern Clemency, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 588:


Tim

On the invitation list: Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Tim Walz of Minnesota, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Wes Moore of Maryland and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico.

2024 February 7, Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Harris set to host Democratic governors this weekend to discuss 2024 campaign”, in CNN:

A male given name, a shortened form of Timothy and, very rarely, of Timon.


visarga

Borrowed from Sanskrit विसर्ग (visarga).

XXV of Centamil published by the Tamil Sangam at Madura that in ancient times āytam was represented by visarga.

1934, P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri, History of Grammatical Theories in Tamil and Their Relation to the Grammatical Literature in Sanskrit:

(phonology, Sanskrit grammar) the voiceless terminal h in Sanskrit


Sorbian

A group of Slavic languages spoken by a minority in eastern Germany.


stress

en-noun

stress (countable and uncountable, plural stresses)

Hans Selye
Walter Cannon
stress
stress (mechanics)

From a shortening of Middle English destresse, borrowed from Old French destrecier, from Latin distringō (“to stretch out”). This form probably coalesced with Middle English stresse, from Old French estrece (“narrowness”), from Vulgar Latin *strictia, from Latin strictus (“narrow”).
In the sense of "mental strain" or “disruption”, used occasionally in the 1920s and 1930s by psychologists, including Walter Cannon (1934); in “biological threat”, used by endocrinologist Hans Selye, by metaphor with stress in physics (force on an object) in the 1930s, and popularized by same in the 1950s.

(Scots law) distress; the act of distraining; also, the thing distrained.


LC

LC (countable and uncountable, plural LCs)

The lord chancellorship certainly needed reform and sadly Lord Irvine resisted taking the sensible steps of creating an independent judicial appointments commission and ending the nonsense of the LC having the right, should he choose, of sitting himself as a judge on cases.

2016 July 27, Helena Kennedy QC, “Letters: Charlie Falconer to blame for lord chancellor folly”, in The Guardian:

(UK politics) Initialism of lord chancellor.


Barry

Anglicized form of Irish Barra, short form of Fionnbharr, from fionn (“white”) + barr (“head”).

Above left, Kathryn Bigelow with the cinemaphotographer Barry Ackroyd on the set of The Hurt Locker.

2009 June 21, Manohla Dargis, “Action!”, in The New York Times:


Barry

A diminutive of the male given name Bartholomew.

A diminutive of the male given name Barack.


Norman

From Middle English Norman, from Old English Norman (a variant of Norþman) and Old French Normant.
It is certain that the word is derived from the base of the Germanic words for north and the Germanic base of the words for man. However, given the frequent movement of Germanic groups especially into and out of Britain in the post-classical world, it is unclear in what tongue it came to be used first. In addition, the generally accepted meaning, a person from Normandy or one of the many French-speaking invaders to Britain, was used chiefly by Anglo-Norman and Old French, though it originally referred to any Scandinavian of the time. See also Northman.

"Let him be named Norman", said the lady; "it was the name of him who last - it was the name of the youngest son of Macalbin."

1815, Christian Isobel Johnstone, Clan-Albin, The Novelist's Magazine, C. Alexander, published 1833, page 155:

"Yes," she said, "the husband is pretty ex." And then, for no reason at all, she added: "His name is Norman."
Bill nodded solemnly. "I see why you left him."
Rosie began to giggle and clapped her hands to her mouth.

1995, Stephen King, Rose Madder, Viking, →ISBN, page 136:

A male given name from Old English used in the Middle Ages and revived in the 19th century.

A number of places in the United States:

A township in Manistee County, Michigan.

An inactive township in Dent County, Missouri


Dana

Johnie had become a "problem" for the advisers and "baby deans" in University Hall: men with marvelously Puritan names like Dana Cotton and Christopher Wadsworth called him in and asked what the trouble was.

1971, J. Anthony Lukas, Don't Shoot — We Are Your Children, Random House, →ISBN, page 419:

Currently serving his sixth term in Congress, Dana Rohrabacher represents California's scenic 45th Congressional District.

When Dana White barreled up to the microphone, at Donald Trump’s request, to say his piece on election night, it represented confirmation of the UFC CEO’s status as one of the key members of the president-elect’s inner circle.

2024 November 16, Aaron Timms, “How UFC head Dana White became the glue between Maga and the manosphere”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(chiefly US) A unisex given name transferred from the surname, originally given in honor of Richard Henry Dana Jr.

A female given name from Hebrew, masculine equivalent Daniel, from Romanian, Czech, Slovak and German.

دانا دانا#Persian

A unisex given name from Persian, borrowed from Persian دانا (dânâ), meaning “wise”.

A female given name from Gulf Arabic دانة (dāna), meaning “pearl”.


Spence

Short form of the male given name Spencer.


ǃKung

The ǃ in the word ǃKung is an orthographic symbol denoting a "click" sound. The ǃKung language, aside from sharing many of the same sounds found in all languages, has four distinct clicks […]

1973, The Second Wave, volume 3, page 17:

Harpending spoke ǃKung because of his previous fieldwork in the area, […]

1994, The Aging Experience: diversity and commonality across cultures (Jennie Keith), page 24

None of the ideologues spoke ǃKung, […]

2007, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, The Old Way: A Story of the First People, page 286:

In Epembe, Oonduda and Uusilo very few people could understand and even fewer could speak ǃKung. They expressed their sorrow at this loss.

2002, New horizons for the San: participatory action research with San communities in Northern Namibia (Dhyani J. Berger, Elke Zimprich), page 22

A Khoisan language spoken in Namibia, Angola, and South Africa, famous for its click consonants.


-on

* (Physics) From -on in electron, reinforced by Ancient Greek -ον (-on) ending neuter nouns and adjectives.
* (Chemistry) From -on in carbon, first applied to boron and then to silicon.

Coordinate term: -ino

(physics, mathematics and biology) Forming nouns denoting subatomic particles (proton), quanta (photon), molecular units (codon), or substances (interferon).

(biology, genetics) Forming names of things considered as basic or fundamental units, such as codon or recon.

(chemistry) Forming names of noble gases and certain nonmetal elements (such as boron or silicon).


pygmy

From Latin Pygmaeī, from Ancient Greek πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos, “a member of a race of dwarves”), from πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist (as small as a fist)”).

der

It was so high up that the people walking about in the street below looked like pygmies.

2015, Rosie Harris, Moving On: A family saga set in 1970’s Liverpool:

(figuratively, derogatory, offensive) Any dwarfish person or thing.


Aramaic

/ˌæ.ɹəˈmeɪ.ɪk/

/ˌæɹ.əˈmeɪ.ɪk/

/ˌɛɹ.əˈmeɪ.ɪk/

From Aram, the place settled by Aramaeans; from the Aramaic ארם, ܐܪܡ (ʾarām).

ܐܪܡܝܐ

ʾārāmāyā, ʾărammāyā

A subfamily of languages in the Northwest Semitic language group, including, but not limited to:

The language of the administration in the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian empires from the seventh to fourth centuries BC: often called Imperial Aramaic or Official Aramaic.

The language of portions of the Hebrew Bible, mainly the books of Ezra and Daniel: often called Biblical Aramaic.

The liturgical language of various Christian churches: often called Syriac.

The liturgical language of the Mandaeans: usually called Mandaic.

Any language of this family today called Neo-Aramaic, and separated by religion also Judeo-Aramaic and Syriac


Revised Romanization of Korean

The official South Korean romanization standard for Korean.

文化觀光部２０００年式 /文化观光部２０００年式

Wénhuà Guānguāngbù Èrlínglínglíng nián shì

文化観光部２０００年式

ぶんかかんこうぶにせんねんしき


Nepali

an Indo-Aryan language used primarily by the people of Nepal


Pama-Nyungan

/ˌpʌməˈnjʊŋən/

From pama (“man, person”) (in several northeast Australian Aboriginal languages) + nyungaa (“man, person”) (in several southwestern Australian Aboriginal languages) + -an. Apparently coined by American linguist Kenneth L. Hale (1934-2001), to show the vast geographical extent of the family.

(linguistics) A proposed language family encompassing most Australian Aboriginal languages, including Pitjantjatjara and Warlpiri, but excluding those spoken in the northwest.


Austro-Hungarian

From Austro- + Hungarian, after Austria-Hungary.

(historical) A person from Austria-Hungary.


Cossack

Armeno-Kipchak
Cossack
George Turberville

Cossacks (plural)
cossack (alternative)
kozak (alternative)
Kozak (alternative)

From Middle French cosaque, from Middle Polish Kozak, from Old Ukrainian коза́къ (kozák), from Kipchak *qazaq (whence Armeno-Kipchak խազախ (xazax)), from Old Turkic 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰸 (*qazǧaq, “profiteer”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰣𐰢𐰴 (qazǧanmaq, “to acquire”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰢𐰴 (qazmaq, “to dig out”), from Proto-Turkic *kaŕ-. Doublet of Kazakh. First appears c. 1587 in the writings of George Turberville.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

A member or descendant of an originally (semi-)nomadic population of Eastern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia, formed in part of runaways from neighbouring countries, that eventually settled in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian tsarist Empire and constituted a military caste, particularly in areas now comprising southern Russia and Ukraine.


te reo

Borrowed from Maori te reo (“Māori”, literally “the language”).

bor+

Currently, many Kiwis are learning te reo.


Jimmy

Heaven only knows why a man with a strong biblical name like James wants to be a president named Jimmy.

1979 Charles Kuralt, Dateline America, Harcourt Brace Jovanocich, page 184

The other living ex-presidents are Jimmy Carter, who has been in hospice care for over a year, and George W. Bush, who is very friendly with both Obama and Clinton, but as a Republican is unlikely to campaign for Biden even given his disdain for Trump’s contempt for democracy.

2024 March 27, Stephen Collinson, “Three presidents and one mission: Beat Trump”, in CNN:

A diminutive of the male given names James or Jim, also used as a formal given name.


superior

superiors (plural)
superiour (alternative)

/sʉːˈpɪə.ɹiː.ə/

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French superiour, from Latin superior (“higher, upper”).

(Scots law, historical) One who has made an original grant of heritable property to a tenant or vassal, on condition of a certain annual payment (feu duty) or of the performance of certain services.


Ngan'gityemerri

(linguistics) An Aboriginal language spoken in the Daly River region of the Northern Territory of Australia of the Southern Daly language family.


Igbo

Surprised by her switch to Igbo, he did not speak.

2019, Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities, Abacus (2019), page 180:

The language spoken by the Igbo people and elsewhere in southern Nigeria.


Andy

Andi (alternative)
Andie (alternative)
Endy (alternative)

"Irina? Call me 'Andy,' please."
"I think that I would rather call you 'Andrew'."
This was flattering, somehow. For everyone I knew called me "Andy"―a name comfortable as an old sneaker. There was dignity in "Andrew," and a kind of depth, complexity. Perhaps I began to fall in love with Irina Kacinzk for seeing more in me than I saw in myself at the time.
Of course, from time to time, Irina has called me "Andy." In her most affectionate moments, when she feels comfortable in my love, she even calles me "dear"―"darling."

2015, Joyce Carol Oates, Jack of Spades, Head of Zeus, →ISBN, page 104:

But Andy and Ben, they are lovers, not fighters … and they are going the battered sav.

2016 September 11, Emily Power, “Main bathroom reveals on The Block: hold on for the bathroom without a toot”, in Domain News:

A diminutive of the male given name Andrew, from Ancient Greek.

安迪

pet form of Andrew or its equivalent in the language concerned


Andy

A diminutive of the female given name Andrea, from Ancient Greek.


Andy

Andys (plural)
Andies (plural)
Andi (alternative)
Andie (alternative)
Endy (alternative)

Andy
Andy Milonakis
Ice Poseidon
Know Your Meme
Twitch (service)

Originates from the live streams of IRL streamer Ice Poseidon on the live streaming service Twitch in early 2017; comedian and actor Andy Milonakis frequently appeared on Ice Poseidon's streams before being supplemented by one Andy Martin, who was given the byname "Mexican Andy" to distinguish him from Milonakis—himself dubbed "Sitting Andy" in June. Subsequently, Ice Poseidon and his audience began referring to people who appeared on his streams by the name Andy and the term spread to other channels on Twitch by late 2017 as a generic name for any Twitch streamer.

trump is now a react andy like myself

dream stans pulling out the "he has adhd" card to hasan fucking piker the biggest adhd andy on twitch it's so funny

Why is this video going viral? 500k views almost on my Twitch channel 😂It's not even funny Oh hello LSF andy's 👋

(Internet slang, Twitch-speak) A streamer on live streaming service Twitch.


Anthony

From Latin Antōnius, name of a Roman gens (with excrescent -h- suggested by an unetymological association with Ancient Greek ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”)). The Roman clan name is of uncertain etymology, but is not Greek or Hebrew; most likely of Etruscan origin, possibly derived from Ani, the Etruscan god of the sky. Doublet of Antoine.

"...Think you've got the best name I've heard," she was saying. - - "Anthony Patch. Only you ought to look sort of like a horse, with a long narrow face - and you ought to be in tatters." "That's the Patch part though. How should Anthony look?" "You look like Anthony," she assured him seriously - he thought she had scarcely seen him - "rather majestic," she continued, " and solemn."

1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, (please specify |book=1, 2, or 3):

It is doubtless true that American English lacks a tradition for the pronunciation of Anthony, a name which was not often bestowed upon American males until the comparatively recent craze for supposedly swank "British" Christian names, like Stephen, Peter, Michael, etc., in this country.

1952, Thomas Pyles, Words and Ways of American English, Random House, page 245:

She was built like a dream and wore a chain around her neck with a medal of Saint Anthony hanging down inside the most beautiful bosom I never saw. "It must be a terrible temptation for Saint Anthony," I joked - just to put her at ease, you know. "Saint Anthony?" her husband said. "Who's Saint Anthony?"

1955, Joseph Heller, chapter 5, in Catch-22:

A male given name from Latin, in regular use since the Middle Ages.


Persephone

From Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē).

‘My name is Persephone’ she says, ‘but in England everyone calls me Seph.’

2008, Gaynor McGrath, Lemniscate, Transit Lounge Publishing (2011) (e-book), chapter 23, 376

(rare) A female given name from Ancient Greek.


Dyirbal

An ergative Australian Aboriginal language of the Dyirbalic branch of the Pama-Nyungan family, spoken in the region of Cairns and the Atherton Tableland, Queensland.


panel

From Middle English panel (“piece of cloth, saddle pad, pane of glass, piece of ice, part, division, jury list, jury members”), from Anglo-Norman panel, panelle (“piece of cloth, saddle cushion”), from Vulgar Latin *pannellus, diminutive of Latin pannus (“cloth, rag, garment”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“fabric”). Cognate with Old English fana (“a piece of cloth, patch, banner, flag, vane”). Doublet of vane.

cog

[I]t remains only to examine the Relevancy of the two general exculpatory Defences pled for the Pannells.

1737, “Information for His Majesty’s Advocate, and Mr. Hugh Forbes, Advocate, Procurator Fiscal of the High Court of Admiralty, against Thomas McAdam, and James Long, Pannels”, in Extract of the Proceedings before James Graham of Airth, Esq; Judge of the High Court of Admiralty in Scotland, in the Action at the Instance of Duncan Forbes, Esq; His Majesty’s Advocate, and Mr. Hugh Forbes, Advocate, Procurator Fiscal of the Said High Court, against Thomas McAdams Souldier, and James Long Corporal, in the Regiment of Foot Commanded by Colonel —— Hamilton. Laid before the House Pursuant to Their Lordship’s Order April 18, 1737, London: Printed by John Baskett, […], →OCLC, page 12:

(Scots law) A prisoner arraigned for trial at the bar of a criminal court.


Orion

From Middle English Orioun, from Latin Ōrīōn, from Ancient Greek Ὠρίων (Ōríōn), speculatively from Akkadian 𒌋𒊒𒀭𒈾 (Uru-anna, “heaven's light”), though without any firm evidence.

der

In Madge's judgment, her Uncle Orion had suffered most of his life from the name he'd been given, requiring that people ask him to repeat it and boys his own age make fun of it.

1980, Wright Morris, Plains Song, for Female Voices, Harper&Row, →ISBN, page 113:

A male given name from Ancient Greek of modern usage.

An unincorporated community in Pike County, Alabama, United States, also known as Prospect Ridge.


Gavin

Medieval variant of Gawain, the name of an Arthurian knight, first recorded as Old French Gauvain. The form Gavin survived in Scotland and spread to other English-speaking countries in the 1960s. Doublet of Gawain.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sunday banning the sale at grocery checkouts of all plastic bags, regardless of thickness. The only option for customers who lack their own reusable shopping bags will be buying paper bags for 10 cents each.

2024 September 23, Soumya Karlamangla, “California Bans All Plastic Bags After Its First Effort Backfired”, in The New York Times:

A male given name from the Celtic languages.


Mikey

A diminutive of the male given name Michael.


Kylie

Kylies (plural)
Kylee (alternative)
Kyleigh (alternative)

Possibly from kylie (“boomerang”). Originally popular in Australia, the name has gained popularity elsewhere in the English-speaking world due to the fame of Kylie Minogue. Unrelated to Kyle, though often seen as a feminine form of it.

Kylie and her parents had been driving through the outback for hours. They had taken a five-hour flight from Sydney, where they lived, to Perth, in Western Australia. From Perth, they had to drive another seven hours to get to Kylie′s aunt and uncle′s sheep station.

2002, Erinn Banting, Australia: The People, page 30:

Emily. Em-il-y, three syllables, like a knock on the door of destiny. Such an odd, old-fashioned name, compared to those Kylies and Traceys and Jades — names that reeked of Impulse and grease and stood out in gaudy neon colours —

2010, Joanne Harris, blueeyedboy, Doubleday,, →ISBN, page 102:

A female given name originating as a coinage.


Sindarin

Developed by J. R. R. Tolkien as a language in his fantasy works, in which the word Sindarin itself is not of Sindarin origin: it is a term in Quenya (another of Tolkien's constructed languages), derived from Sindar, the Quenya name for the people who spoke it, which in turn is derived from sinda (“grey”).

constructed language
constructed language

A constructed language, partly inspired by Welsh, spoken by certain elves and others in J. R. R. Tolkien's works.


Gandalf

From Old Norse mythology Gandalfr (“elf familiar”).

Gundulf (alternative)
Gundulph (alternative)

A male given name from the Germanic languages known in history, and in the books of Tolkien, but not usually bestowed on children.


Dickie

Dickey (alternative)
Dicky (alternative)

A diminutive of the male given name Dick, a short form of the male given name Richard.


Aphrodite

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē) (see it for more).

bor+

Aphrodite Jones is an American author and TV producer.


Alex

Short form of Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros) 'he who wards off men', i.e. protector, possibly of Hittite origin. Also from Alexius, from the same Ancient Greek first element, "helping, defending". These two origins of Alex are indistinguishable in most languages. The female name has the same root, shortened from Alexandra or the female name Alexis, in some cases also a spelling variant of Alix.

Martin was pretty dull as names went but 'Alex Blake' had a certain dash to it. His publishers hadn't considered Martin's own name to be 'punchy' enough. The pseudonym Alex Blake was chosen after much deliberation, most of which excluded Martin. 'A strong, no-nonsense sort of name', his editor said, 'to compensate'. For what, she didn't say.

2006, Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn, Black Swan, published 2007, →ISBN, page 81:

'I had a Christmas card from someone calling herself Alex the year before last,' Daniel said. 'I couldn't think who it was.'
'Oh, yes, she's changed again,' Alice said. 'I never got used to Alexandra, either. It never occurred to me that Sandra was short for Alexandra - anyway, she's Sandra on her birth certificate.'

2008, Philip Hensher, The Northern Clemency, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 588:


Kashubian

/kəˈʃuːbɪən/

Casubian (alternative)
Cassubian (alternative)
Cashubian (alternative)
Kash. (alternative)

A Slavic language spoken in the Pomeranian region of Poland.


ǃXóõ

The ǃXóõ language is spoken by widely scattered groups of San living in southwestern Botswana and a small area of eastern Namibia.

1985, Anthony Traill, Phonetic and Phonological Studies of ǃXÓÕ Bushman, page 1

[…] which studied category formation of ǃXóõ clicks by speakers of a language that has no clicks (American English) and two other unrelated African languages that have clicks, but fewer of them […]

2008, Keith Elwin Johnson, Second Language Acquisition of the Spanish Multiple Vibrant Consonant, page 49:

However, the phonotactic patterning of 'uvular' clicks in ǃXóõ does not comply with the predicted patterns given in this analysis.

2010, “Amana L. Miller, Tongue body and tongue root shape differences in Nǀuu clicks correlate with phonotactic patterns”, in Turbulent Sounds: An Interdisciplinary Guide, page 258:

Speakers of ǃXóõ (also known as Taa), gathered together for a storytelling competition at Pos 17, Namibia […]

2011, Nicholas Evans, Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us, page 53:

The most phonologically diverse language may be ǃXóõ, spoken by about 4,000 people in Botswana and Namibia, which has somewhere between 84 and 159 consonants.

2011, Michael C. Corballis, The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization, page 76:

[…] and the ǃXóõ language spoken in Botswana and Namibia […]

2011, Intercultural Communication: A New Approach to International Relations and Global Challenges (Houman A. Sadri, Madelyn Flammia), page 129

A Khoisan language, known for its large phonemic inventory including complex click consonants.


crave

From Middle English craven, from Old English crafian (“to crave, ask, implore, demand, summon”), from Proto-West Germanic *krafōn, from Proto-Germanic *krafjaną (“to demand”). Cognate with Danish kræve (“to demand, require”), Swedish kräva (“to crave, demand”), Icelandic krefja (“to demand”), Norwegian kreve (“to demand”).

inh

(Scots law) A formal application to a court to make a particular order.


Scot

From Old English Scottas (“people from Ireland, Irishmen”), from Late Latin Scotti (see Scōtī for more).
See Scoti.

der

A male given name transferred from the surname, of rare usage, variant of Scott.


Maggie

Maggie. Never in her life had she heard her mother called Maggie. It was a name from her youth, that dead time Jerene had never been allowed to talk about [- - -]. Her mother was Margaret now.

1986, David Leavitt, The Lost Language of Cranes, Houghton Mifflin, published 1997, →ISBN, page 127:

I could tell that some of the guests were confused by the name of Maggie―no-one had called her by that clunky, unfashionable name in years―

2004, Joanne Harris, Jigs & Reels, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 81:

A diminutive of the female given name Margaret.

(informal) Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister.


Novocastrian

From Latin novus (“new”) + castra (“castle, fort”).

Of or relating to Newcastle upon Tyne or Newcastle, New South Wales.


Novocastrian

A native or resident of Newcastle upon Tyne or Newcastle, New South Wales.


Fijian

/fɪˈd͡ʒiːən/

Feejeean (alternative)
Fejeean (alternative)

an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken on Fiji. It has 650,000 speakers, including second language users.


ǃXũ

A Northern Khoisan language of Namibia, Angola, and Botswana. This language has about 5,000 speakers in the Kalahari Desert.


Yoruba

In the parlour, she could hear Aunty Biola attempting to teach her father Yoruba, collapsing into helpless giggles whenever he mispronounced his vowels, giving them the flat English sound instead of lifting them upwards with the slight outward puff of breath that was required.

2005, Helen Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl, Bloomsbury, page 48:

A sub-Saharan language. It belongs to the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family, and has nearly 40 million speakers in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Sierra Leone, as well as communities in The United States, Brazil and Cuba.


Bobbie

A diminutive of the male given name Robert.

A diminutive of the female given name Roberta.


Wally

"'Mr. Szalla' is my eighty-two-year-old father, Nikki. Please call me 'Wally'."
"Well. 'Wally'."
I felt my face burn pleasantly. "Wally" was such a comfortable old-shoe kind of name.

2005, Joyce Carol Oates, Mother, Missing, Harper Perennial, page 108:

A diminutive of the male given names of Waldo, Walter, Wallabee, and Wallace.


Walter

A Germanic name, from Middle English Walter, from Old Northern French Waltier, from Frankish *Waltheri (compare Old High German Waltheri, which see for more details), from Proto-Germanic *Waldaharjaz, from *waldą (“ruler”) + *harjaz (“army, host”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“be strong”) + *ker- (“army”). Related to Old English Waldhere. Compare herald and Harold, in which these elements are reversed.

der

Whitmore. And so am I; my name is Walter Whitmore. / How now! why start'st thou? what! doth death affright?
Suffolk. Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death. / A cunning man did calculate my birth, / And told me that by Water I should die. / Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded; / Thy name is - Gaultier, being rightly sounded.

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 IV, scene i]:

And with some appellations, the contrary applies. Like Walter, for instance. You can't be Walter in a pram. You can't be Walter until you're about seventy-five in my view.

1991, Julian Barnes, Talking It Over, →ISBN, page 13:

Walter complained about the assault and isolation of the volunteers. Two policemen immediately grabbed him and dragged him to the punishment cells.

2003, Elinor Sisulu, Walter & Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime, page 151:

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Walt

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Walter Mitty

Clipping of Walter. The derogatory British sense is a reference to the fictional character Walter Mitty from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a mild-mannered pushover who has wild fantasies about his life in various daring roles.

A diminutive of the male given name Walter.


Kabyle

From Arabic قَبَائِل (qabāʔil, “tribes”), plural of قَبِيلَة (qabīla, “tribe”).

A Northern Berber language of the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic language family, spoken by over 3,000,000 people in Algeria; native name Taqbaylit.


Ojibwe

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

First attested in English around 1700 (and attested in early French as Outchibouec), from the Ojibwe name of an individual band of Ojibwe, of unclear origin. The most widely accepted theory connects it to Ojibwe ojibwaakide (“it shrivels, it puckers in the fire”), in reference to the puckering or tightening of moccasins at their seams or near fire. Alternatively, Helen Tanner and Edmund Danzinger connect it to the Ojibwe practice of writing on birch bark or making pictographs, respectively; compare ozhibii' (“write (someone's name) down”).
Other, less credible theories:
Other, less likely suggestions include: Henry Schoolcraft derived it from a word *bwe "pertaining to voice" ((compare bedowe (“have a soft voice”)), and like George Belcourt, believed it referred to a peculiarity of the tribe's (language's) pronunciation. Some other works connect it to the word for puckering the lips, which however is bajiishkidooneni (“she or he puckers the lips”), or assert that it refers to roasting captives until their flesh puckered, but this was not a common practice and is improbable as a self-designation.

m+

Ojibwa (alternative)
Ojibway (alternative)

The language spoken by the native Algonquin people of central Canada, one of a closely related group of languages and dialects of the Algonquian branch of the Algic language family.


gee

From Middle English, from Old English ge, from Latin ge (the name of the letter G).

One branch of English society drops its initial aitches, and another branch ignores its terminal gees.

The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch.

1773 October, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged:

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 G/g.


Kalanga

A Bantu language spoken in Botswana and Zimbabwe.


Abe

Shortened from Abraham. In the slang sense for money, refers to the picture of Abraham Lincoln on the currency.

A diminutive of the male given name Abraham, from Hebrew.


Yup'ik

Borrowed from Yup'ik Yup'ik (“real person”), from Proto-Eskimo *iŋuɣpiɣ, from *iŋuɣ (“human, person”).

Yupik (alternative)
Yu'pik (alternative)

(linguistics) A language of the Eskimo-Aleut family.

jupikki

(linguistics) A subbranch of the Eskimo-Aleut family of languages. This is the only language family known to straddle both North America and Asia. It is centered squarely in Alaska and is thought to have migrated across to Siberia a few hundred years ago.


Cocoliche

Indeed, cocoliche might in some respects be seen as another example of dialectal influence upon Italian – except that in this case the ‘dialect’ is another Romance ‘language’, and not an Italo-Romance variety.

1995, Martin Maiden, A Linguistic History of Italian, Longman, published 2003, page 269:

A pidgin or language continuum formed from Italian and Spanish, spoken in parts of the River Plate region of South America in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.


Scouse

The accent and dialect of Liverpool or Merseyside.


Syracusan

Ex. Dionysius...obliged the Syracusans to accept his tokens in place of silver coins. (William Stanley Jevons)

A native or inhabitant of Syracuse, Sicily, or of Syracuse, New York.


Heidi

From Swiss German Heidi, a pet form of Adelheid, equivalent of English Adelaide and Alice. The name became internationally popular due to the children's book Heidi (1880).

"Heidi?" Kurtz echoed. "Heidi? That's a damned odd name for an English elder sister, isn't it?" "Not for Heidi, it isn't," she replied buoyantly, and scored an immediate laugh from the kids beyond the lighting. Heidi because her parents went to Switzerland for their honeymoon, she explained; and Switzerland was where Heidi was conceived. "Among the edelweiss," she added, with a sigh.

1983, John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl, Pan Books, →ISBN, page 142:

But the purported rise in violent videos online has led some MPs to campaign for courts to have more power to remove or block material on YouTube. The Labour MP Heidi Alexander said she was appalled after a constituent was robbed at knifepoint, and the attackers could be found brandishing weapons and rapping about gang violence online.

2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:

A female given name from the Germanic languages.


Oriya

Oorya (alternative)
Ooriya (alternative)

Odia, the language spoken in the state of Odisha, India.


aleph

alephs (plural)
alef (alternative)
alif (alternative)
alaph (alternative)
olaph (alternative)

Borrowed from Hebrew אלף (álef). Doublet of alpha and alif.

Proto-Canaanite alphabet
Proto-Canaanite alphabet

The first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, and its descendants in descended Semitic scripts, such as Phoenician 𐤀 (ʾ, ʾaleph), Aramaic 𐡀 (ʾ), Classical Syriac ܐ ('ālaph), Hebrew א (aleph) and Arabic ا (ʾalif).

أَلِف

first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet and descendant script


cue

cues (plural)
kue (alternative)
kew (alternative)
que (alternative)

Form of Latin qū. First attested as Middle English cu for half a farthing, as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”). Compare French qu.

"My name is Quinn," said Quinn. "Cue-you-eye-en-en."

2008, John Clark Pratt, Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years, 1941–1975, page 315:

The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q.


ell

The name of the Latin-script letter L/l. (more commonly el)


Jess

A diminutive of the male given name Jesse.

‘Now then Kit,’ said Mr Parkinson, ‘look sharp! Help Jess up. Where has she got to?’ ‘Here I am!’ said Jessamy breathlessly as “helped” rather to vigorously from behind by Kit, she arrived on her knees on the floor of the dog cart.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 58:

‘It’s almost as if we’ve gone silly with happiness,’ said Marcus two days later. ‘Everyone in the house going round grinning like a lot of Cheshire Cats! The family I mean.’ ‘And Jess,’ said Kitto quickly. ‘Oh well, Jess is as good as family,’ said Fanny comfortably. Jessamy said nothing, but she looked up quickly and her smile would have rivalled any Cheshire Cat.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 127:

A diminutive of the female given names Jessica or Jessamy.


Jill

A variant of Gill, diminutive of Gillian, a medieval form of Juliana, ultimately from Latin.

"Just Jill, I'm afraid." "Would you prefer if it was Gillian?" "Oh, I think so. Gillian sounds so much fancier." "Fancy?" Terrence said. He smiled at her. "Or perhaps it sounds flashy?" "Royal," Richard said. "Flowery," Terrence added. "You could say Gillian was more flowery. That would fit. What about you, Corrie, what does it sound like to you?" "Rich," Corrie glanced at Jill. "Gillian sounds richer than Jill."

1994, Floyd Skloot, Summer Blue, Story Line Press,, →ISBN, page 98:

A female given name from Latin.
Clipping of Jillian.

Our wooing doth not end like an old play;
Jack hath not Jill; these ladies' courtesy
Might well have made our sport a comedy.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

A generic use for any female (as Sheila in Australian English), especially paired (since the 15th c., compare Ienken and Iulyan) with the male Jack.


kay

The name of the Latin-script letter K/k.


kirk

Inherited from Northern Middle English kyrke, from either Old Norse kirkja or Old English ċiriċe. Doublet of church.

inh+

When she sang in the kirk, folk have told me that they had a foretaste of the musick of the New Jerusalem, and when she came in by the village of Caulds old men stottered to their doors to look at her.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

But long, long ago an enthusiastic reporter called it a "fairy palace," and the office building on the west side was once a church. Hence, in North British phraseology, to "gang tae the Kirk" meant to be had up on the carpet.

1941 January, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 3:

(Northern England and Scotland) A church.


mitre

From Middle English mytre, from Old French mitre, from Ancient Greek μίτρα (mítra, “headband, turban”). Its use in reference to a counterfeit coin derived from the bishop's mitre stamped upon it. Doublet of Mithras, Mithra, Mitra, and Mehr.

doublet

(historical, numismatics) A 13th-century coin minted in Europe which circulated in Ireland as a debased counterfeit sterling penny, outlawed under Edward I.


Tony

The statuettes awarded by the American Theatre Wing are formally known as “Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre”; they are named for Antoinette Perry (1888–1946), an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, who was nicknamed Tony.

For a micromoon and Friday the 13th full moon to occur together is extraordinarily rare. The last time it happened was in 1832 and it won't happen again for more than 500 years according to Tony Rice, a meteorologist and engineer at NASA.

2019 September 13, Matthew Cappucci, “For the first time in 13 years, a full moon rises this Friday the 13th”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 2020-10-29:

A male given name, a short form of Anthony/Antony

A surname transferred from the given name


Tory

From Irish tóraí (“pursuer”), from tóir (“pursuit”). The first recorded use in English is from a 1646 letter by James Butler ("Earl of Ormond") to a Colonel O' Brien, describing bandits and thieves on main roadways.

(UK politics) A member or supporter of the Conservative Party, which evolved from Royalist politicians; historically associated with upholding the rights of the monarchy and the privileges of the established Church.

консерватор

a member or supporter of the Conservative Party (UK, Canada)

(US, historical) A Union sympathizer in the Confederate States during the American Civil War.


Tory

(UK politics) Of or belonging to the Tory Party or the Conservative Party.


Tory

Short for Victoria when used as a female name, and for Victor or Salvatore when used as a male name.


vee

Gussa-Merry-Mingo-Pip-Perry-Pingo is the name of the little old man who looks after the aitch-oh-vee-ee-ar-cee-ay-ar-pee-ee-tee-blank-ar-eye-dee-ee-ess.

RV [is spoken] as "ar-vee" instead of "I SPELL Romeo Victor".

2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), p. 3-5

The name of the Latin-script letter V/v.


superiority

en-noun

superiority (countable and uncountable, plural superiorities)

superiorities (plural)
superiourity (alternative)

From Middle English superiorite, from Old French superiorite, from Medieval Latin superioritas, from Latin superior.
Morphologically superior + -ity.

(Scots law, historical) The right which the superior enjoys in the land held by the vassal.


Erse

From Scots Erse (“Irish”), from earlier Ersche, Ersch, a contraction of Erisch, Erische (“Irish”), from Middle English Erische, Irische, Irisch (“Irish”). Doublet of Irish. Compare also Scots Irisch.

Two points which appeal to the writer are that the stations of origin and of destination are printed (in Erse and English) once only and then are summarised at the foot, [...]. [...] Clar Chloinne Mhuiris is the Erse original of Claremorris, and Dublin appears as Baile Atha Cliath.

1940 May, G. W. J. Potter, “Tickets of the Great Southern Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 292:

Now he's just sung in his mother tongue, the ancient Irish Erse, and cleared the pub completely by the forty-second verse!

1993, “Plastic Paddy”, in Mirrors, performed by Eric Bogle:

Either of the Gaelic languages of Ireland and Scotland.


Germanization

Germanization (countable and uncountable, plural Germanizations)

The adoption of German customs or culture.

(historical) The policy, in Nazi Germany, of the expansion of the German language and culture.


tanner

George II of Great Britain
John Sigismund Tanner
Royal Mint

Named after John Sigismund Tanner (1705–1775), who designed a sixpence for the Royal Mint during the reign of King George II.

[A]s you are so flash of your money, though you say you are poor, you may give me a tanner to buy a little baccy with; […]

1851, George Borrow, chapter III, in Lavengro; the Scholar—the Gypsy—the Priest. […], volume II, London: John Murray […], →OCLC, page 32:

They'd say hello, maybe slip you a tanner.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 469:

(British, colloquial) A former British coin worth six old pence.


treat

en-verb

treat (third-person singular simple present treats, present participle treating, simple past and past participle treated or (Northern England, Bristol, colloquial) tret)

treats (present singular third-person)
treating (participle present)
treated (participle past)
treated (past)
tret (Northern-England colloquial participle past)
tret (Northern-England colloquial past)
treat (infinitive)

From Middle English treten, from Anglo-Norman treter, Old French tretier, traiter, from Latin tractāre (“to pull", "to manage”), from the past participle stem of trahere (“to draw", "to pull”).

(UK politics, law) To commit the offence of providing food, drink, entertainment or provision to corruptly influence a voter.


cis

From Latin cis (“on this side (of), on the near or same side”). Doublet of he, it, here, hither, and hence.

doublet

(biology) Having two mutations on two genes on the same chromosome of a homologous pair.

9 is thought to survive longer when the CH = CH bond is cis and to favour the formation of another cis double bond in a propagation reaction involving its displacement by monomer. 10, on the other hand, is more likely to yield a trans double bond […]

1984, American Chemical Society. Division of Polymer Chemistry, Papers Presented at the ... Meeting:

However, a cis double bond causes a kink in the chain. (A cis double bond introduces a bend of about 42 into the linear hydrocarbon chain.)

2007, Vickie A. Vaclavik, Elizabeth W. Christian, Essentials of Food Science, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 277:

A cis double bond is one where the hydrogen atoms are both on the same side. In contrast, a trans double bond has them on the opposite side.

2015, William P Edwards, The Science of Bakery Products, Royal Society of Chemistry, →ISBN, page 26:

(physical chemistry) In (or constituting, forming, or describing) a double bond in which the greater radical on both ends is on the same side of the bond.

The cis effect is the labilization of ligands which are cis to certain other ligands.

coordination compound
coordination compound

(physical chemistry) In (or constituting, forming, or describing) a coordination compound in which the two instances of a particular ligand are adjacent to each other.


cis

Clipping of cisgender or cissexual, ultimately from Latin cis.

Coordinate term: trans

We're demonized and criminalized as perverts out to trick and deceive cis hetero men; therefore anything that happens to us, we 'had coming.'

2017 November 21, Trish Bendix, quoting Ashlee Marie Preston, “Why it matters that transgender women are speaking out about Jeffrey Tambor — and that people are listening”, in Yahoo! Lifestyle:

Oh yeah, because you know who's been long overdue a challenge? The trans community. Oh, they've had their guard down for too long if you ask me. They'll all be checking their privilege on the way home now thanks to you, you brave little cis boy!

2019 January 17, James Acaster: Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, spoken by James Acaster:

The reality is that LGBTQ+ people face challenges at disproportionally higher rates than their straight counterparts — drug use, sex work, and financial instability can be an unfortunate result. My privilege as a young cis white man whose parents weren't going to let me drown afforded me the ability to make those mistakes and live to talk about it.

2019 September 24, Johnathan Van Ness, Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love, HarperCollins, →ISBN, pages 117–118:

Cisgender (or sometimes cissexual): not trans (transgender or transsexual) nor non-binary.


Cheddarhead

From Cheddar + -head; Wisconsin is famed for its cheese production.

(US, slang, sometimes derogatory) A Wisconsinite.


Algonquin

From Canadian French algonquin, from earlier algoumequin, from either Maliseet elakómkwik ("these are our relatives") or Mi'kmaq algoomeaking (“at the place of spearing fish and eels”).

der

The language spoken by the Algonquins, a transitional language between Ojibwe and Abenaki.

United Counties of Leeds and Grenville#English

A community of Augusta township, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario, Canada.

A village in McHenry County and Kane County, Illinois.

A place name:
A place in the United States:
A township in McHenry County, Illinois.

A neighbourhood of Louisville, Kentucky.

census-designated place
census-designated place

Dorchester County
Dorchester County#English

A census-designated place in Dorchester County, Maryland.

Ontonagon County
Ontonagon County#English

An unincorporated community in Bohemia Township, Ontonagon County, Michigan.


AAVE

Initialism of African-American Vernacular English.


Dougie

A diminutive of the male given names Douglas, Dougal, or Doug.


Doug

Come and have a drink,' he said, 'and my Christian name is Douglas on this side of the Rye, mind that. Dougal Douglas at Meadows Meade and Douglas Dougal a Willis's, mind. Only a formality for the insurance cards and such.'
'I better call you Doug, and be done with it.'

1960, Muriel Spark, The Ballad of Peckham Rye, New Directions Publishing, published 1999, page 70:

A diminutive of the male given name Douglas.


Todd

Do I want this t-shirt with Todd H- of course I do!

2019 October 24, ISP, quoting iSorrowproductions, Fallout 4 But I Randomized EVERYTHING:

A male given name transferred from the surname.


onomasticon

en-noun

onomasticon (plural onomasticons or onomastica)

onomasticons (plural)
onomastica (plural)

From Ancient Greek ὀνομαστικόν (onomastikón), neuter form of ὀνομαστικός (onomastikós, “belonging to names”), from ὀνομάζω (onomázō, “I name”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).
The term onomastikón (collection of names, from ὄνομα/ónoma, ‘name’) describes learned works that are not arranged alphabetically but juxtapose synonyms and terms relating to the same semantic field. This principle of ordering is very old (it was already known in Near Eastern culture in the 2nd millennium BC; Lists) and undoubtedly was the most common one up to the Augustan period. Source: Onomastikon — Brill

We looked up the origin of her name in an onomasticon.

A book, list, or vocabulary of names, especially of people.


O'odham

From O'odham o'odham (“person, man, human being”).

der

The indigenous Uto-Aztecan language of the O'Odham.


Murray

en-proper noun

Murray (countable and uncountable, plural Murrays)

Scottish surname derived from the place name Moray in northeastern Scotland, from Medieval Latin Moravia, Morauia, from Scottish Gaelic Moireibh, Moireabh, Moreb, ultimately from Proto-Celtic *mori (“sea”) + *trebā (“settlement”).

Murray was the sort of name he might have expected his father to pick. Murray : not a family name, not a friend's name, not some old blowhard up in New Hampshire (his father's home state) who'd sat around in the general store playing checkers and sucking his teeth. Murray was a name you couldn't do anything with. Murr — what the hell kind of nickname was that? The kids in second and third grade had certainly seen the name's possibilities. With the appropriate swishes and vocal flutings, they called him "Mary".

1992, Martha Grimes, The End of the Pier, page 151:


Gullah

Gola people
Gullah
Gullah#Etymology
folk etymology

First attested in 1739 as a male black slave's proper name, of unclear origin. Traditionally linked by folk etymology to an apheresis of Angola (where many African slaves were carried from), or an apparent West African ethno-tribal group called the Gola people.
See more at the Wikipedia article Gullah, including other theories.

Gullah has been spoken continuously since before the Civil War.

A creole of English and various African languages spoken on a group of islands off the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia in the Southern United States.

The culture surrounding this language and geography.


Gullah

The music of George Gershwin’s Porgie and Bess was inspired in part by Gullah "shouts".

Pertaining to the Gullah language and culture.


Star Wars

[ˈstɑɹ ˈwɔɹz]

[ˈstɑ˞ ˈwɔɹz]

From the original name of the science fantasy motion picture Star Wars (1977).

Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative

(informal, military) The United States Strategic Defense Initiative.


Ernie

“People have biases towards species that are glamorous,” said Dr. Ernie Small, author of the study and taxonomist for Agriculture Canada.

2012 May 6, Eoghan Macguire, “Beauty trumps beast in conservation efforts”, in CNN:

A diminutive of the male given name Ernest.


Oregonian

/ɒɹɪˈɡəʊnɪ.ən/

Born and raised in Salem, he was admittedly an Oregonian through and through, though he secretly hated it.

The problems between where he currently lives and his old city, he said, begin with rural Oregonians living fundamentally different lifestyles than people in the city of Portland.

2023 March 15, Kyung Lah and Jack Hannah, “Partisan rancor in Oregon spills over into Idaho effort to absorb its rural neighbors”, in CNN:

United States of America
United States of America

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


SF

(Ireland, UK politics) Initialism of Sinn Féin; an Irish political party.


nom de guerre

noms de guerre (plural)
nom-de-guerre (alternative)

/ˌnɒm də ˈɡɛə(ɹ)/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nom de guerre.wav

Borrowed from French nom de guerre (literally “war name”), referring to the pseudonyms used during wars.

bor

Synonym of pseudonym; (particularly) a pseudonym adopted by a soldiers, revolutionaries or resistance fighter

pseudonym

Abu Mohammad al-Julani
Pol Pot
Vladimir Lenin
Willy Brandt


Kurt

Ogles, an entrepreneur, will defeat state House Speaker Beth Harwell and retired Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead.

2022 August 4, Rachel Janfaza, “Andy Ogles will win GOP nomination in redrawn Tennessee 5th District, CNN projects”, in CNN:

A male given name from the Germanic languages borrowed from German, a contracted form of Konrad.


Zinnia

Zinnia had already attained fifty, I guessed, and wore a professional white coat over a grey flannel skirt. In spite of her colourful name she had short grey hair hair, no lipstick, flat-heeled shoes and an air of tiredness, […]

1999, Dick Francis, Second Wind, page 199:

A female given name from English from the flower


Marshal

/ˈmɑː(ɹ)ʃəl/

A male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th century and later usage.


BNP

British National Party
w:British National Party

(UK politics) Initialism of British National Party.


Arwel

From Welsh, derivation uncertain. Possibly "prominent".


GC

General Committee
w:Constituency Labour Party

(UK politics) Initialism of General Committee: the general management committee of a constituency party of the British Labour Party.


Chris

A man named Chris Reynolds was credited $92 quadrillion USD on his paypal account, "This unexpected influx of wealth elevated him to the status of the richest person on the planet and the only quadrillionaire to have ever existed". Following this, after the man reported this error and it was fixed, "PayPal owned up to their mistake and thanked the richest man of all time for understanding the situation, saying: 'This is obviously an error and we appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understood this was the case'".

2013 July 25, Microsoft Network, Richest Man of All-Time Dramatically Gained and Lost His Entire Fortune in Just 2 Minutes:

It had been 2,836 days since Chris Kirk last won on the PGA Tour. Yet after securing his first victory in over seven years on Sunday, that was not the first milestone the American golfer had on his mind.

2023 February 27, Jack Bantock, “Chris Kirk battled alcoholism and depression – now he has secured his first PGA Tour victory in seven years”, in CNN:

A diminutive of the male given names Christopher or (less commonly) Christian.

A diminutive of the female given name (along with other variant forms) Christina.


Babylonian

From Latin Babylōnius (“of Babylon, Babylonian”) (from Ancient Greek Βαβυλώνιος (Babulṓnios)) + -an; corresponding to Babylon + -ian.

der

A later form of Akkadian language spoken in Babylonia in 1950 BC – 100 AD.


adduce

en-verb

adduce (third-person singular simple present adduces, present participle adducing, simple past and past participle adduced)

adduces (present singular third-person)
adducing (participle present)
adduced (participle past)
adduced (past)

From Middle English adducen, from Latin addūcere, adductum (“to lead or bring to”), from ad- + dūcere (“to lead”). See duke, and compare adduct.

(transitive, Scots law) To produce in proof.


Wookiee

What's this guy tryinna [sic] disappear behind you, a Wookie? [sic]

1985, Stephen King, Peter Straub, The Talisman, page 341:

I backed it out to the dirt road, and the door to the double-wide opened and a big guy, more Wookiee than human being, filled the doorway.

2009, Janet Evanovich, Plum Spooky, page 98:

Kevin whined, his Wookiee face showing hurt somewhere beneath the dark glasses.

2009, Jaqueline Girdner, Murder, My Deer, page 115:

A member of a fictional race of tall, hairy bipeds in the universe of the Star Wars motion pictures.


Mancunian

]
From Latin Mancunium (appearing in a 4th-century manuscript of the Antonine Itinerary), an alternative name for or corruption of Mamucium (“name of the Roman fort at what is now Manchester”) + -an, probably modelled after Late Latin Mancuniensis (“related or pertaining to Mancunium”).

cog

The accent and dialect of English spoken in Manchester and some of its environs.


Bajan

A shortened form of Bar-Bajan, a phonetically spelled form of Barbadian.


Bajan

A Creole language spoken on the island of Barbados.


Tupi

Any of the Tupian languages, especially Old Tupi or Nheengatu.


beth

beths (plural)
bet (alternative)
beyt (alternative)
beis (alternative)

From Middle Bronze Age picture of a house by acrophony, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *bayt- (“house”). Doublet of beta.

The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, ב


vav

vavs (plural)
waw (alternative)
vau (alternative)

The sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, ו.


waw

The twenty-seventh letter of the Arabic alphabet: و.


zayin

zayins (plural)
zain (alternative)
zayn (alternative)
zay (alternative)

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


heth

heths (plural)
chet (alternative)
cheth (alternative)
ḥet (alternative)
ẖet (alternative)
hheth (alternative)
het (alternative)
khet (alternative)
kheth (alternative)

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


teth

teths (plural)
ṭēth (alternative)
tet (alternative)

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


yodh

yodhs (plural)
jod (alternative)
jodh (alternative)
yod (alternative)
yud (alternative)

Borrowed from Hebrew יו״ד, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *yad- (“hand”).
 Doublet of iota, jot, and yod.

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


kaph

kaphs (plural)
caph (alternative)
kaf (alternative)
kap (alternative)

From Hebrew כָּף (kaf, “kaph”), from Proto-Semitic *kapp- (“palm, hand”) (Akkadian 𒀉 (kappu(m)), Hebrew כַּף (kaf, “hand/foot”), Arabic كَفّ (kaff), Ugaritic 𐎋𐎔 (kp)) Doublet of kappa.

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


kaf

The twenty-second letter of the Arabic alphabet. ك (k)


mem

mems (plural)
meem (alternative)
mim (alternative)

From Phoenician 𐤌𐤌 (mm /mem/, “water”), from Proto-Semitic *maʾ- (“*maʾ-/*may-”). Doublet of mu.

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


samekh

samekhs (plural)
samech (alternative)
samek (alternative)
simketh (alternative)

The 15th letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician. Aramaic. Hebrew. Syriac. And many others).


ayin

ayins (plural)
ain (alternative)
ʿain (alternative)
ʿayin (alternative)
ayn (alternative)

From Proto-Semitic *ʿayn- (“eye”), particularly via Hebrew עַיִן (ʿáyin).

Ayin is the most difficult of the faucals.

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


tsade

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


qoph

qophs (plural)
kuf (alternative)
qaaf (alternative)
qāf (alternative)
qof (alternative)
qop (alternative)

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


resh

reshes (plural)
reh (alternative)
reysh (alternative)
reish (alternative)

From Proto-Semitic *raʾš- (“head”). Doublet of ras (“Ethiopian king”) and ras (“headland”), and related to reis.

doublet

The twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). It is homologous with Greek rho and Latin r.


tav

Alternative form of taw (Semitic letter)


shin

The twenty-first letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others): Shin (letter) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia


pantheon

(mythology) All the gods of a particular people or religion, particularly the ancient Greek gods residing on Olympus, considered as a group.


Marian

A variant of Marion, a medieval derivation of Mary, often also interpreted as a contraction of Mary and Ann, or as a variant of Mariana.

There's no more faith in thee than in a steward prune, nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn fox; and for womanhood, Maid Marian may be the deputy's wife of the ward to thee.