Etymology dictionary

*gwere- (1) — gyrus (n.)

*gwere- (1)

gwerə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "heavy."

It forms all or part of: aggravate; aggravation; aggrieve; bar (n.4) "unit of pressure;" bariatric; baritone; barium; barometer; blitzkrieg; brig; brigade; brigand; brigantine; brio; brut; brute; charivari; gravamen; grave (adj.); gravid; gravimeter; gravitate; gravity; grief; grieve; kriegspiel; guru; hyperbaric; isobar; quern; sitzkrieg.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit guruh "heavy, weighty, venerable;" Greek baros "weight," barys "heavy in weight," often with the notion of "strength, force;" Latin gravis, "heavy, ponderous, burdensome, loaded; pregnant;" Old English cweorn "quern;" Gothic kaurus "heavy;" Lettish gruts "heavy."

*gwere- (2)

gwerə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to favor."

It forms all or part of: agree; bard (n.); congratulate; congratulation; disgrace; grace; gracious; grateful; gratify; gratis; gratitude; gratuitous; gratuity; gratulation; ingrate; ingratiate.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit grnati "sings, praises, announces;" Avestan gar- "to praise;" Lithuanian giriu, girti "to praise, celebrate;" Old Celtic bardos "poet, singer."

*gwher-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to heat, warm."

It forms all or part of: brand; brandish; brandy; brimstone; brindled; forceps; Fornax; fornicate; fornication; fornix; furnace; hypothermia; thermal; thermo-; Thermopylae; Thermos.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit gharmah "heat;" Old Persian Garmapada-, name of the fourth month, corresponding to June/July, from garma- "heat;" Hittite war- "to burn;" Armenian jerm "warm;" Greek thermos "warm;" Latin formus "warm," fornax "oven;" Old Irish fogeir "heated;" Old English bærnan "to kindle."

*gwhi-

*gwhī-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "thread, tendon."

It forms all or part of: defile (n.) "narrow passage;" enfilade; filament; file (v.1) "place (papers) in consecutive order for future reference;" filigree; filipendulous; fillet; profile.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Avestan jya- "bowstring;" Latin filum "a thread, string;" Armenian jil "sinew, string, line;" Lithuanian gysla "vein, sinew;" Old Church Slavonic zila "vein."

*gwora-

also *gwera-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "food, devouring."

It forms all or part of: carnivorous; devour; gorge; gurges; hellebore; herbivore; herbivorous; insectivore; locavore; omnivorous; voracious; voracity; -vorous.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit girati "devours, swallows," garah "drink;" Avestan aspo-gar- "devouring horses," nere-gar- "devouring men;" Greek bibrōskein "to eat, digest," brotos "edible," brosis "eating," bora "fodder;" Latin vorare "to swallow, devour;" Armenian e-ker "ate;" Lithuanian gerti "to drink," gìrtas "drunk;" Old Church Slavonic žiro "to swallow," grŭlo "gullet," po-žreti "to eat" (of animals), "to devour."

*gwou-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "ox, bull, cow," perhaps ultimately imitative of lowing; compare Sumerian gu, Chinese ngu, ngo "ox."

It forms all or part of: beef; Boeotian; Bosphorus; boustrophedon; bovine; bugle; Bucephalus; bucolic; buffalo; bugloss; bulimia; butane; butter; butyl; butyric; cow (n.); cowbell; cowboy; cowlick; cowslip; Euboea; Gurkha; hecatomb; kine.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit gaus, Greek bous, Latin bos, Old Irish bo, Latvian guovs, Armenian gaus, Old English cu, German Kuh, Old Norse kyr, Slovak hovado "cow, ox."

In Germanic and Celtic, of females only; in most other languages, of either gender. For "cow" Latin uses bos femina or vacca, a separate word of unknown origin. Other "cow" words sometimes are from roots meaning "horn, horned," such as Lithuanian karvė, Old Church Slavonic krava.

gybe (v.1)

"swing from one side to the other," nautical, 1690s, probably from older Dutch gijben, related to German gieben, of uncertain origin.

gybe (v.2)

alternative spelling of jibe.

gym (n.)

short for gymnasium, 1871, U.S. student slang.

gymkhana (n.)

1854, Anglo-Indian, said to be from Hindustani gend-khana, literally "ball house," said in Yule & Burnell's 1886 glossary of Anglo-Indian words to be "the name usually given in Hindu to an English racket-court." The second element is from Middle Persian khan "house," from Iranian *ahanam "seat," from PIE *es- "to sit." Altered in English by influence of gymnasium, etc.

gymnasium (n.)

1590s, "place of exercise," from Latin gymnasium "school for gymnastics," from Greek gymnasion "public place where athletic exercises are practiced; gymnastics school," in plural, "bodily exercises," from gymnazein "to exercise or train," literally or figuratively, literally "to train naked," from gymnos "naked," from a metathesis of PIE *nogw-mo-, suffixed form of *nogw- "naked" (see naked).

A feature of all ancient Greek communities, at first it was merely an open space, later with extensive facilities and including training for the mind as well as the body. Hence its use in German from 15c. as a name for "high school" (more or less paralleling a sense also in Latin); in English it has remained purely athletic. For the "continental high school sense," English in 19c. sometimes used gymnastical as an adjective, gymnasiast for a student.

gymnastics (n.)

1650s, from gymnastic; also see -ics.

gymnastic (adj.)

1570s, "pertaining to athletic exercise," from Latin gymnasticus, from Greek gymnastikos "fond of or skilled in bodily exercise," from gymnazein "to exercise or train" (see gymnasium).

gymnast (n.)

1590s, "one who is expert in gymnastics," a back-formation from gymnastic. Greek gymnastes was "a trainer of professional athletes."

gymno-

before vowels gymn-, word-forming element meaning "naked, stripped, bare," from Greek gymnos "naked, unclad; bare, mere," from a metathesis of PIE *nogw-mo-, suffixed form of *nogw- "naked" (see naked).

gymnosophist (n.)

c. 1400, from Greek gymnosophistai "the naked philosophers," from gymnos "naked" (see naked) + sophistes "wise man" (see sophist). Ancient Hindu holy men whose self-denial extended to clothes; they were known to the later Greeks through the reports of Alexander the Great's soldiers.

gymnosperm (n.)

1836, from French gymnosperme and Modern Latin gymnospermae (plural, 17c.), literally "naked seed" (i.e., not enclosed in an ovary), from gymno- "naked" + sperma "seed" (see sprout (v.)). Related: Gymnospermous.

gynaecolatry (n.)

"worship of women," 1888; see gyneco- + -latry "worship of." Related: Gynaecolater; gynaecolatrous.

gynarchy (n.)

"government by women or a woman," 1570s, from Greek gynē "woman, wife" (from PIE root *gwen- "woman") + -arkhē "rule" (verbal noun of arkhein "to be the first," hence "to rule;" see archon). Synonymous gynaecocracy (from Greek gynaikokratia) and gyneocracy are attested from 1610s; gynocracy is from 1728.

gyneco-

also gynaeco-, before a vowel gynec-, word-forming element meaning "woman, female," from Latinized form of Greek gynaiko-, combining form of gynē "woman, female," from PIE root *gwen- "woman." Also see æ (1).

gynecological (adj.)

also gynaecological, 1858, from gynecology + -ical. Related: Gynecologically.

gynecology (n.)

also gynaecology, "science of women's health and of the diseases peculiar to women," 1847, from French gynécologie, from Latinized form of Greek gynaiko-, combining form of gynē "woman, female," from PIE root *gwen- "woman." Second element is from French -logie "study of," from Greek (see -logy). Another word for it was gyniatrics.

gynecologist (n.)

also gynaecologist, 1851, from gynecology + -ist.

gynecomastia (n.)

also gynaecomastia, gynecomasty, "condition of a man having breasts like a woman's," 1881, from gyneco- "woman, female" + Latinized form of Greek mazos "breast," variant of mastos (see masto-) + abstract noun ending -ia.

gyno-

word-forming element especially in modern medical and botanical words equivalent to gyneco-.

gyp (v.)

also gip, "to cheat, swindle," 1889, American English, traditionally derived from Gypsy (n.). Gyp/gip/jip is attested from 1794 as university slang for a servant that waited on students in their halls. This is said to have been especially a Cambridge word, and a story told there derived it from Greek gyps "vulture," in reference to thievish habits of the servants.

As a noun, "fraudulent action, a cheat," by 1914. Gypsy's abbreviated form Gip, Gyp is attested from 1840. Gypping or gipping was a term late 19c. among horse dealers for tricks such as painting the animal's gray hairs brown, puffing the gums, etc. Related: Gypped.

Gypsy (n.)

also gipsy, c. 1600, alteration of gypcian, a worn-down Middle English dialectal form of egypcien "Egyptian," from the supposed origin of the people. As an adjective, from 1620s. Compare British gippy (1889) a modern shortened colloquial form of Egyptian.

Cognate with Spanish Gitano and close in sense to Turkish and Arabic Kipti "gypsy," literally "Coptic;" but in Middle French they were Bohémien (see bohemian), and in Spanish also Flamenco "from Flanders." "The gipsies seem doomed to be associated with countries with which they have nothing to do" [Weekley]. Zingari, the Italian and German name, is of unknown origin. Romany is from the people's own language, a plural adjective form of rom "man." Gipsy was the preferred spelling in England. The name is also in extended use applied to "a person exhibiting any of the qualities attributed to Gipsies, as darkness of complexion, trickery in trade, arts of cajolery, and, especially as applied to a young woman, playful freedom or innocent roguishness of action or manner" [Century Dictionary]. As an adjective from 1620s with a sense "unconventional; outdoor."

gypsophila (n.)

genus of the pink family, 1771, from Modern Latin (Linnaeus), from Greek gypsos "chalk, gypsum" (see gypsum) + philein "to love" (see philo-).

gypsum (n.)

substance (hydrated calcium sulphate) used in making plaster, late 14c., from Latin gypsum, from Greek gypsos "chalk," according to Klein, a word perhaps of Semitic origin (compare Arabic jibs, Hebrew gephes "plaster").

gyration (n.)

1610s, noun of action from gyre (v.).

gyrate (v.)

"move in a circle or spiral," 1763 (implied in gyrated), back-formation from gyration. Related: Gyrated; gyrating.

gyre (n.)

1560s, "a circular motion," from Latin gyrus "circle, circular course, round, ring," from Greek gyros "a circle, ring," related to gyrós "rounded," perhaps from PIE root *geu- "to bend, curve" (source also of Armenian kor "crooked," Lithuanian gurnas "hip, ankle, bone," Norwegian kaure "a curly lock of hair"). The noun is attested in Middle English only in reference to ship's tackle (early 15c.).

gyre (v.)

mid-15c., "turn (something) away (from something else); rotate" (transitive), "cause to revolve;" also "go in a circle, turn round" (intransitive), from Old French girer and directly from Latin gyrare, verb derived from gyrus "circle, circular course, round, ring" (see gyre (n.)). Related: Gyred; gyring.

gyrfalcon (n.)

large falcon used in hawking, also gerfalcon, c. 1200, partly Englished from Old French girfauc "large northern falcon," probably from a Frankish compound with Latin falco "hawk" (see falcon) + first element meaning "vulture," from Proto-Germanic *ger (source of Old High German gir "vulture"). Folk etymology since the Middle Ages has connected it with Latin gyrus (see gyre (n.)) in reference to "circling" in the air.

gyro-

word-forming element meaning "gyrating" or "gyroscope," from Greek gyros "a ring, circle" (see gyre (n.)).

gyro (n.)

sandwich made from roasted lamb, 1971, originally in reference to the meat itself, as roasted on a rotating spit, from Modern Greek gyros "a circle" (see gyre (n.)). Mistaken in English for a plural and shorn of its -s.

gyrocopter (n.)

1915, from gyro- + ending as in helicopter.

gyromancy (n.)

1550s, method of divination said to have been practiced by a person walking in a circle marked with characters or signs till he fell from dizziness, the inference being drawn from the place in the circle at which he fell; from Medieval Latin gyromantia, from Greek gyyros "circle" (see gyro- (n.)) + manteia "divination, oracle" (see -mancy).

gyroscope (n.)

heavy rotating wheel with an axis free to turn in any direction, 1853, improved and named in French 1852 by Foucault, from Greek gyros "a circle" (see gyre (n.)) + skopos "watcher" (from PIE root *spek- "to observe"), because the device demonstrates that the earth rotates.