Word Collections
English words grouped by their origin language, historical depth, and grammatical role.
Words from Latin
English words whose roots trace back to the language of Rome. From 'salary' (salt money) to 'muscle' (little mouse), Latin gave English its largest vocabulary inheritance.
1,860 words
Words from Greek
The language of philosophy, science, and democracy lives on in everyday English. Greek gave us 'alphabet', 'democracy', 'music', and thousands more.
615 words
Words from Old English
The Anglo-Saxon core of the English language. These are the oldest native words — 'water', 'fire', 'night', 'mother' — the bedrock of daily speech.
462 words
Words from French
After the Norman Conquest of 1066, French flooded into English. Law, cuisine, art, and government vocabulary — much of it arrived with William the Conqueror.
607 words
Words from Arabic
Arabic gave English 'algebra', 'algorithm', 'admiral', 'coffee', and 'zero'. Many arrived during the medieval golden age of Islamic science and trade.
52 words
Words from Old Norse
The Vikings didn't just raid — they left their language behind. 'Sky', 'egg', 'window', 'they', 'husband' — all Norse gifts to English.
70 words
Words from Italian
Music, food, architecture, and banking — Italian shaped English vocabulary in art and commerce. From 'piano' to 'bank' to 'volcano'.
113 words
Words from Japanese
From 'tsunami' to 'karate' to 'emoji', Japanese has contributed a growing set of vivid, specific words to English.
25 words
Words from Spanish
Spanish gave English words through exploration and the Americas — 'tornado', 'mosquito', 'canyon', 'plaza', and many more.
42 words
Proto-Indo-European Survivors
Words that trace back 5,000+ years to the reconstructed ancestor of most European and many Asian languages. The oldest layer of English vocabulary.
79 words
Words with the Longest Journeys
These words passed through six or more languages before arriving in English. Each step reshaped their sound, spelling, and meaning.
762 words
Ancient Words
Words first recorded before the year 1000 CE — survivors from Old English, Latin, and the deep past. Still spoken every day, barely changed.
476 words
Verb Origins
The action words of English — where they came from and how their meanings shifted. Verbs are often the most ancient layer of any language.
832 words
Adjective Origins
How English describes the world. Many of our richest descriptive words crossed borders — 'bizarre' from Basque, 'elegant' from Latin, 'cozy' from Norse.
607 words