etymology

Study of the origin and history of words within and across languages. It has two major aspects: the study of the phonetic and written forms of words, and of the semantics or meanings of those words.

Standard dictionaries of a language such as English typically contain etymological information within square brackets at the end of each entry, enabling readers to learn more about the origin of a word. Etymological research has been particularly successful in tracing the development of words and word elements within the Indo-European language family, a group that includes English, French, Greek, Latin, and Persian, among others. Since languages are always changing and usage differs among cultures, it is important to trace words to their original sources.