You et a whaaaat?

If you're a wordaholic like me, this is about the best free etymological dictionary you're likely to find. Last time I looked the Oxford was still nudging a thousand clams, both for online and dead tree versions. While it's certainly more authoritative than this website, I can't justify that amount of cash. I think you'll find that the website works just fine for most of your etymology needs. And it's available at a 100% discount from the Oxford version.

For those of you who are still scratching your heads and wondering why I'm talking about bugs and what they have to do with dictionaries, that's entomology. Etymology is the study of the origins of language and words. As a test, I threw it a curve ball (really more like a slider) and tried a word that came to English through the German language: panzer. Here is the result:

1940, from of German Panzerdivision "armored unit," from Panzer "tank," literally "armor," from Middle High German panzier, from Old French panciere "armor for the belly," from pance "belly, stomach," from Latin pantex (genitive panticis) "belly" (see paunch)

Well, I always thought "panzer" sounded much cooler than "tank," but that was before I knew the back story. Panzer = paunch. That certainly sucks all the sexy out of it, doesn't it? I bet Rommel didn't know that... or want to, for that matter.