What does etymology mean?
Word: Etymology
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Etymology means the study of where words come from and how their meanings have changed.
How do you spell etymology?
Syllables: et - y - mol - o - gy
Tricky part: The y in the second syllable is the trap, since it sounds exactly like an i. Etimology and etemology are the usual results.
Watch out for: etimology, etemology, etimmology
Memory tip: Etymology asks why a word means what it does, so borrow the y of why.
Etymology in a sentence
Example 1: A good dictionary gives the etymology of each word.
Example 2: Tanya's project traced the etymology of the names of local rivers.
Example 3: Mr Iyer loves explaining the etymology of difficult words in class.
Fun Fact
The word describes itself. It comes from the Greek etymon, the true sense of a word, so etymology is the search for that true sense.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Our English teacher spent the whole period on the etymolagy of everyday words such as pyjamas and bungalow, which both reached English from India.
a) etymolagy
b) pyjamas
c) bungalow
d) everyday
Show answer
a) etymolagy. Like geology and biology, the word ends in ology.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
ettymology
a) g
b) l
c) t
d) m
Show answer
c) t. A single t follows the opening e.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters to find the word that fits the sentence:
My uncle's hobby is ooeymyglt: he can tell you the story behind almost any English word.
a) etymology
b) geology
c) entomology
d) ecology
Show answer
a) etymology. Two y's in the jumble point to just one of these words.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. etymology 2. lexicon 3. pronounciation 4. dialect
a) a form of a language spoken in one area
b) all the words of a language or subject
c) the way in which a word is said
d) tracing the history of a word's form and sense
Show answer
c) the way in which a word is said. Pronunciation drops the o of pronounce; the other three are correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which question would a student of etymology be most likely to ask?
a) Where does the stress fall in the word sugar?
b) What is the correct plural of the word sugar?
c) How many vowels are there in the word sugar?
d) Which older language gave us the word sugar?
Show answer
d) Which older language gave us the word sugar?
2. Where would you look to find a word's etymology?
a) the contents page of a maths book
b) the origin note in a dictionary entry
c) the index at the back of an atlas
d) the timetable on the school website
Show answer
b) the origin note in a dictionary entry
