Standard Lemma guide

etymologist

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A lexicographer or linguist who specializes in etymology (the origins of words).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a lexicographer who specializes in etymology

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: lexicographer, lexicologist

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *set-? Ancient Greek ἐτεός (eteós)der.? Ancient Greek ἔτυμος (étumos) Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos) Ancient Greek -λογος (-logos) Ancient Greek ἐτῠμόλογος (etŭmólogos) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh2 Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ἐτῠμολογῐ́ᾱ (etŭmologĭ́ā)bor. Latin etymologiader. Old French ethimologiebor. Middle English ethymologie English etymology Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English etymologist From etymology + -ist.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ստուգաբան (stugaban) — person who specializes in etymology
  • Belarusian: этымо́лаг (etymólah) — person who specializes in etymology
  • Bulgarian: етимолог (etimolog) — person who specializes in etymology
  • Catalan: etimòleg — person who specializes in etymology
  • Catalan: etimòloga — person who specializes in etymology
  • Catalan: etimologista — person who specializes in etymology
  • Chinese Mandarin: 詞源學家 /词源学家 — person who specializes in etymology
  • Czech: etymolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Danish: etymolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Finnish: etymologi — person who specializes in etymology
  • French: étymologiste — person who specializes in etymology
  • German: Etymologe — person who specializes in etymology
  • Greek: ετυμολόγος (etymológos) — person who specializes in etymology
  • Hungarian: etimológus — person who specializes in etymology
  • Icelandic: orðsifjafræðingur — person who specializes in etymology
  • Italian: etimologista — person who specializes in etymology
  • Italian: etimologo — person who specializes in etymology
  • Italian: etimologa — person who specializes in etymology
  • Korean: 어원학자 (eowonhakja) — person who specializes in etymology
  • Northern Kurdish: etîmolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Latvian: etimologs — person who specializes in etymology
  • Latvian: etimoloģe — person who specializes in etymology
  • Macedonian: етимолог (etimolog) — person who specializes in etymology
  • Manx: bun-ockleyder — person who specializes in etymology
  • Norwegian Bokmål: etymolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: etymolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Polish: etymolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Polish: etymolożka — person who specializes in etymology
  • Portuguese: etimólogo — person who specializes in etymology
  • Portuguese: etimologista — person who specializes in etymology
  • Romanian: etimolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Romanian: etimologist — person who specializes in etymology
  • Russian: этимо́лог (etimólog) — person who specializes in etymology
  • Serbo-Croatian: etimòlog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Slovak: etymológ — person who specializes in etymology
  • Slovak: etymologička — person who specializes in etymology
  • Slovene: etimolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Slovene: etimologinja — person who specializes in etymology
  • Spanish: etimologista — person who specializes in etymology
  • Spanish: etimólogo — person who specializes in etymology
  • Swedish: etymolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Turkish: etimolog — person who specializes in etymology
  • Ukrainian: етимо́лог (etymóloh) — person who specializes in etymology