Glossary · Word parts and vocabulary
What is etymology?
Definition
Etymology is the history of a word: where it came from, what it first meant and how its spelling and meaning changed over time.
English borrows freely, so its words come from many places: Old English (house, mother), French (castle, beef), Latin (structure, inspect), Greek (photograph, biology) and dozens of other languages (pajamas, kindergarten, tsunami).
Etymology explains spellings that sound alone can't. The k in knife was once pronounced. The ch in chorus is /k/ because the word is Greek. The c in muscle is there because the word comes from Latin musculus, and you can hear it in muscular.
It also makes word study more interesting, which matters with older students. A student who learns that disaster means bad star, from an old belief about the planets, tends to remember both the word and its spelling.
In a lesson
Show knight and knee and ask why they start with k. Explain that the k was once spoken. Then ask the student to guess the origin of chorus from its ch.
Examples
Each word with its spelling units, one per sound.
- knifekn·i_e·f
- chorusch·or·u·s
- musclem·u·sc·le
- disasterd·i·s·a·s·t·er
Words come from our lexicon, checked against a pronouncing dictionary. Words a student sees in our assessments are left out.
Why does this matter for the record?
Etymology is enrichment for most students. Note it when it helps a particular spelling stick, rather than tracking it as a skill.
Rate each skill as you teach it
Needs support, Developing, Secure. The rating schedules the review and builds the report.