How to use etymology in a sentence

Examples of etymology by meaning

More sentences with etymology

• Many of the global etymologies that the journal contained looked suspiciously onomatopoeic.From the entry global etymology
• He wanted to eloquate his thoughts on the subject of etymology.From the entry eloquate
• Ethology, ethnology, etiology, etymology, and entomology are paronymous.From the entry paronymous
• Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms.From the entry folk etymology
• Paulis suggests that this similarity may be due to chance or folk etymology, which is plausible.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 66. From the entry emmenagogue
• After that, you may have to rely on your own creative etymology skills!2021 November 1, LastFormorian, PETBOTOSRS, “Rulers with "arch" in their name”, in reddit.com. From the entry archemperor
• But by inferring sleep, the etymology also undersells Siberia's scope, both real and imagined.2020, Sophy Roberts, The Lost Pianos of Siberia, page 12. From the entry undersell
• The etymologies gave words from Hindustani in the Devanagari script accompanied by transliterations in parentheses.2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 251. From the entry Devanagari
• If any deeper etymology is required, Arthur, don't ping me; I'll ping you.2001 November 25, William Safire, “On Language; The Arab Street”, in New York Times. From the entry ping
• Resembling the moose he describes, Thoreau meandered through lexicons, munching etymologies like some great verbivorous animal.2000, Michael West, Transcendental Wordplay. From the entry verbivorous
• The contemporary liberal critic Havelock Ellis proposed an etymology of the ‘obscene’ as meaning ‘off the scene’.1992, Richard Brown, “Beginnings”, in James Joyce: A Post-Culturalist Perspective (Macmillan Modern Novelists), Basingstoke, Hampshire…. From the entry gargantuanly
• Another kind of pseudo acronym is a word that has been given a false acronymic etymology.1975, John Algeo, “The Acronym and Its Congeners”, in Adam Makkai, Valerie Becker Makkai, editors, The First Lacus Forum 1974, Columbia…. From the entry pseudo-acronym
• There was the man who collected any old volumes on etymology.1934, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 153, page 71. From the entry shelfback
• Many pieces have been written on the etymology of “university” and on the etymology of “education” (educare versus educere).2026 May 9, Hollis Robbins, “What does the "higher" in higher ed mean? AI is forcing the question”, in Anecdotal Value [Substack newsletter]. From the entry higher education
• The question regarding its etymology is all but resolved however.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 66. From the entry isogloss
• A straightforward reason to suspect non-inheritance, and possibly a substrate origin, is the absence of a clear etymology.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 24. From the entry noninheritance
• Paulis, however, argues to have found a Greek etymology.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 137. From the entry syntagm
• A difficulty in analyzing the material is that not all accepted punicisms in Sardinia have a clear Semitic etymology.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 18. From the entry Punicism
• The word lalochezia itself has an interesting etymology.2020 December 21, Emma Wilkin, “lalochezia”, in Emma Wilkin. From the entry lalochezia
• First it will examine the etymologies of the various groups as products of Egyptian nomenclature (exonymy) or indigenous nomenclature (endonymy).2011, William Cooney, Egypt's encounter with the West: Race, Culture and Identity in Pacific Linguistics (thesis, Durham University). From the entry endonymy
• Books on etymology lay among Tamil poetry and volumes on religion were cheek by jowl with science fiction.2010, Manorama Mathai, chapter 27, in Love and Dr. Aiyar, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 121. From the entry cheek by jowl
• The idea of etymology is new to most students.2004, Stephanie Riddle, Mastering Vocabulary, page 5. From the entry pneumonultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
• The Talmud offers a homiletical etymology that the word AMeN is composed of the initial letters of Ayl Melekh Ne'eman.1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 296. From the entry homiletical
• Take it from me it has no etymology whatsoever.[1977 September 11, Dorothy Tennov, The Observer. From the entry limerence
• As a consequence, the meanings attributed to them are exclusively based on the proposed Basque etymologies and therefore speculative to the extreme.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 19. From the entry Benennungsmotiv
• Yet this enterprise was a slippery one; fictitious etymologies and overclever wordplay were the province of the logodaedalus: a dangerously cunning wordsmith..2018, Alexander Marr, Raphaele Garrod, Jose Ramon Marcaida, Logodaedalus: Word Histories of Ingenuity in Early Modern Europe. From the entry logodaedalus
• Aptly enough, glowworms light up their underworld with a pair of chemicals that have a satanic etymology—luciferins and luciferases, after the Latin for “light bringer.”2017 October 6, Ed Yong, “The Most Beautiful Death Trap”, in The Atlantic. From the entry luciferase
• Thus hamburger (whose true etymology is 'city of Hamburg' + er 'someone from') has been reanalyzed as ham + burger 'burger made with ham.'2006, Shaligram Shukla, Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold, Jeff Connor-Linton, editors, An Introduction to Language…. From the entry reanalyze
• He even sharked up a false or "folk" etymology in which saunter is made to derive from sainte terre, making the saunterer a crusader.1986, Robert Richardson, Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind, Berkeley: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 237. From the entry folk etymology
• Though there is no clear Indo-European etymology for this word, it is hard to imagine the Indo-Iranianists accepting it as a loan from Dravidian.1979, Franklin C. Southworth, “Lexical Evidence for Early Contacts Between Indo-Aryan and Dravidian”, in Madhav M. Deshpande, Peter E.…. From the entry Indo-Iranianist
• Some etymologies trace the name 'China' itself to the Qin (pronounced 'Chin') dynasty, and so you might imagine that it would have a very special status in Chinese history.2017, Philip Ball, The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 89. From the entry qin
• The etymology of the terms presupposes that the thematic part of the sentence contains the topic, while the rhematic part conveys new information about the topic.2007, Iryna Alexeyeva, Theoretical Grammar Course of Modern English, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: Nova Knyha, →ISBN, page 295. From the entry rhematic
• Here such cases as ghost words & misglosses, secondary semantics, different etymologies for one etymon or one etymology for different etyma, and finally semantic overpermissiveness are discussed.2006, Folia orientalia - Volumes 42-43, page 467. From the entry etymon
• However false the ficulnean etymology may be, it is historically true that Fécamp owed its monastery and its prosperity to its possession of the miraculous relic.1900, Percy Dearmer, Highways and Byways in Normandy, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 340. From the entry ficulnean

Meaning of etymology

1. noun The scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.
2. noun The entire catalogue of meanings that a word, morpheme, or sign has carried throughout its history.
3. noun An account of the origin and historical development of a word as presented in a dictionary or the like.

Full definition of etymology

More about etymology

• Meaning of etymology
• Plural of etymology
• Etymology in Hindi
• Etymology in Tamil
• Etymology in Marathi
• Etymology in Urdu

Questions about etymology in a sentence

How do you use etymology in a sentence?

Etymology is used as a noun. For example: “Although written the same, the words lead (the metal) and lead (the verb) have totally different etymologies.”

What is a short sentence with etymology?

“Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms.”

What does etymology mean?

Etymology means the scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.