Category: English

Etymology From Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre, wyrre (“armed conflict”) from Old Northern French werre (compare Old French guerre, whence modern French guerre), from Medieval Latin werra, from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“to mix up, confuse, beat, thresh”). Displaced native Old English ġewinn. Akin to Old High German werra (“confusion, strife,…

Etymology From Middle English lous, lows, lowse, from Old English lūs, from Proto-Germanic *lūs (compare West Frisian lûs, Dutch luis, German Low German Luus, German Laus), from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (compare Welsh llau (“lice”), Tocharian B luwo, maybe Sanskrit यूका (yūkā)). Pronunciation (UK) IPA(key): /laʊs/ Rhymes: -aʊs Noun louse (plural lice or louses) A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea. (colloquial, dated, not usually used in plural form) A contemptible person; one who…

Etymology Borrowed from Dutch Sinterklaas (“Saint Nicholas”), from Middle Dutch sinter clâes, probably from sint (“saint”) +‎ Claes (shortened form of Nicolaas).[1][2] The -er in the first component is of uncertain origin. Suggested to be due to the influence of other saints’…

Etymology From Middle English dewe, dew, due, from Old French deü (“due”), past participle of devoir (“to owe”), from Latin dēbēre, present active infinitive of dēbeō (“I owe”), from dē- (“from”) +‎ habeō (“I have”), from Proto-Italic *habēō or *haβēō, the latter may be from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, to take”). Pronunciation (UK) enPR: dyo͞o, jo͞o, IPA(key): /djuː/, /dʒuː/ (US) enPR: do͞o, IPA(key): /du/…

Etymology fragment +‎ –ation Noun fragmentation (countable and uncountable, plural fragmentations) The act of fragmenting or something fragmented; disintegration. The process by which fragments of an exploding bomb scatter. (computing) The breaking up and dispersal of a file into non-contiguous areas of a disk. (computing) The breaking up of a data packet when larger than the transmission unit of…