etymologist

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The word came into English as “empechen” by way of the Old French word empechier, meaning to prevent or to hinder, according to the British etymologist Michael Quinion.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 18, 2019

As it happens, far from a crusty don, Forsyth isn’t much over 40, according to his bio, and is best known in Britain as a witty etymologist.

From New York Times • May 30, 2018

I asked the Journal’s resident etymologist, columnist Ben Zimmer, about the earliest use of the term “echo chamber” in its modern sense.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2016

It’s often impossible to definitively determine a phrase’s linguistic birthplace, but based on the digging of etymologist Barry Popik, the phrase seems to have originated in the graffiti community of Oakland, California.

From Slate

The allurement of his genius is such that the etymologist shall leave his roots and the philologer his Maeso-Gothic to take to the highway and dwell in the dingle with “Don Jorge.”

From Isopel Berners The History of certain doings in a Staffordshire Dingle, July, 1825 by Seccombe, Thomas