etym- +

1. A reference to etymological.
2. Another reference that may refer to etymology.

Plural form of etymon.

1. Of or pertaining to the etymon or primitive form of a word.
2. Relating to the etymon; as, "an etymic word".

A reference to the historical accuracy of spelling.

1. To give an etymological signification to.
2. To trace the etymology of; to derive.

1. An etymologist.
2. Someone who traces etymologies.

1. Relating to etymology or based on the principles of etymology.
2. Pertaining to etymology, or the derivation of words.
3. A reference to or in accordance with etymology.

1. In an etymological manner.
2. According to or as regards etymology.
3. On etymological principles.

1. An etymological dictionary or manual.
2. A work in which the etymologies of words are traced; an etymological dictionary.

1. A lexicographer who specializes in etymology.
2. A specialist in etymology.

Etymologists usually try to reconstruct information about languages that are too old for any direct information to be known; since so many have no written records for examination.

By comparing words in related languages, we may learn about their shared parent language. In this way, some word roots have been found which can be traced all the way back to the origin of the Indo-European language family.

The action of etymologizing.

1. To study, trace, or describe the origins and developments of words, or to make a suggestion as to a word's possible origin and development.
2. To construct the history of words.
3. To give the etymology or derivation or suggest an etymology for a word or words.
4. To give the etymology or derivation or suggest an etymology (for a word): "Although he is not trained in this, his hobby is etymologizing."
5. Also to etymologise, primarily a British spelling.

1. The origin and historical development of a linguistic form as shown by determining its basic elements, earliest known use, and changes in form and meaning, tracing its transmission from one language to another, identifying its cognates in other languages, and reconstructing its ancestral form where possible.
2. The branch of linguistics that deals with etymologies.

In historical linguistics, etymology is the study of the origins of words.

Some words have been derived from other languages, possibly in a changed form (the source words are called etymons).

Through old texts and comparisons with other languages, etymologists try to reconstruct the history of words; when they entered a language, from what sources, and how their forms and meanings have changed.

1. An earlier form of a word in the same language or in an ancestor language; for example, Indo-European duwo and Old English twa are etymons of Modern English "two".
2. A word or morpheme from which compounds and derivatives are formed.
3. A foreign word from which a particular loan word is derived; for example, Latin duo, “two,” is an etymon of English duodecimal.
4. A word or part of a word from which another word is derived. 5. Etymology: from late 16th century; via Latin from Greek etumon "true sense of a word" and etumos "true, original".

Etymology comes from the same source as etymon and gives a clue to the definition it provides; which is, "the literal meaning of a word according to its origin".

In English, etymon keeps this Greek meaning, but it also may refer to the earliest-known form of a word either in the same language or in an ancestral one, or to a "parent-word" (root) from which other words in the same language are derived.

1. The incorrect origin for a word; an idea about the origin of a word that is generally believed but is incorrect.
2. A modification of a linguistic form according either to a falsely assumed etymology, or to a historically irrelevant analogy.
2. A popular but false notion of the origin of a word.