r/etymology

29K archived posts · Dec 2009 – Sep 2026

Etymology: appreciating word origins

r/etymology

Discussing the origins of words and phrases, in English or any other language.

Created Feb 6, 2009

283KMembers (last snapshot)

29KArchived posts

Etymology is the study of the history of words and idioms, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.

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Rules

######1. Posts should be informative

Word origins posted here should have more to offer than just a link to a dictionary definition. Try to capture what's interesting about the etymology.

######2. Keep it relevant to etymology

Posts should be on-topic or meta. As well as the history and development of words, on-topic content also includes the origin of phrases, which deal with changes in meaning.

######3. Perform basic research

As a courtesy to other users of the community, before posting a question, please use the resources in the subreddit sidebar to try to find an answer.
If you still have questions, by all means post here; if your question is totally solved, consider sharing the answer with the community instead!

######4. Disputed origins should have a warning

Connections and word origins that are speculative, disputed, or otherwise specious should be shared with wording that reflects the uncertain origin to avoid being misleading.

######5. Be nice

r/etymology is for civil discussion. Keep your posts and comments friendly and remember the human.

######6. Don't use AI as evidence

Language models are an emerging tool that can often give assertive but specious answers. Please do not cite or rely upon AI tools when asking or answering questions on r/etymology.

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