magazine

makhāzin → magazzino → magasin → magazine Magazine once meant a storehouse. Through French and…

alphabet

alpha + beta → alphabetum → alphabet Alphabet combines the names alpha and beta, the…

telephone

tēle + phōnē → téléphone → telephone Telephone reached English through French téléphone. Its components…

window

vindauga → window Window comes from Old Norse vindauga, combining wind and eye. An opening…

avocado

āhuacatl → aguacate → avocado Avocado reached English through Spanish, ultimately from Nahuatl. The name…

algebra

al-jabr → algebra Algebra ultimately comes from Arabic al-jabr, associated with restoring or reuniting. A…

robot

robota → robot Robot entered English through the Czech play R.U.R. Its family includes robota,…

umbrella

umbra → ombrella → umbrella Umbrella reached English through Italian. Its older Latin forms point…

pencil

penicillus → pencil Pencil once named a small artist’s brush. Its Latin ancestor penicillus meant…

coffee

qahwa → kahve → koffie → coffeeEnglish coffee travelled through Dutch koffie and Turkish kahve…