Etymology is the study of the originWhat is an origin? An origin is the starting point, the place or source where something begins. It’s like the very first chapter in the story of that thing. Examples: • The origin of a river: Where the river first… Read More and history of words. It’s like detective work, tracing how words have changed over time and moved between languages.

Think of it like this:

• Words have a long history, just like old family stories.
• Etymology digs into those stories to see where a word came from and how its meaning has shifted.

Examples:

• The word “disaster” comes from Greek roots meaning “bad star.” (People used to blame misfortunes on the stars!).
• The word “muscle” comes from the Latin word for “little mouse” (flexing your biceps looks a bit like a mouse moving under the skin!).

Etymology of “Etymology”:

The word “etymology” itself comes from Greek:

• “etymos” meaning “true sense” (of a word)
• “-logia” meaning “study of”

So, etymology is literally “the study of the true meaning of words.”