The origins of these 59 English words might just surprise you

31. Posh
Legend claims it’s an acronym for ‘Port Out, Starboard Home’ (prime ship cabin positions), though this is disputed.

32. Buckaroo
An Americanised version of Spanish vaquero, meaning cowboy.

33. Algebra
From Arabic al-jabr, “reunion of broken parts.” Title of a 9th-century treatise by Al-Khwarizmi.

34. Jubilant
From Latin jubilare, meaning to call out joyfully, often during religious rites.

35. Serendipity
Coined by Horace Walpole in 1754 after a Persian fairy tale about accidental discoveries.

36. Dungeon
From Latin dominionem, meaning lord’s domain, originally a castle’s secure tower, later a prison cell.

37. Disaster
From Greek dus- (bad) + aster (star), based on the idea of unlucky stars causing calamities.

38. Panic
From the Greek god Pan, whose sudden shouts spread irrational fear.

39. Guy
From Guy Fawkes of the Gunpowder Plot. His effigy was burned on Bonfire Night, and the name became slang for “fellow.”

40. Clumsy
From obsolete English clumse, meaning numb or stiff, implying awkwardness.

41. Hysteria
From Greek hystera, meaning womb — ancient physicians wrongly believed women’s emotional states were womb-related.

42. Gymnasium
From Greek gymnazein, “to exercise naked,” describing ancient Greek athletic practice.

43. Enthusiasm
From Greek enthousiasmos, meaning being possessed by a god, originally implying divine inspiration.

44. Toxic
From Greek toxikon, poison for arrows, later applied to poisons in general.

45. Decimate
From Latin decimare, to kill one in every ten, a Roman military punishment for mutiny or cowardice.

46. Menagerie
From Old French ménagerie, initially meaning household management, then a collection of exotic animals.

47. Bazaar
From Persian bāzār, a market or trading district.

48. Brouhaha
From French, an imitative word for uproar and noisy commotion, often linked to theatrical disturbances.

49. Maverick
From Samuel Maverick, a Texas rancher who refused to brand his cattle. The name became slang for a nonconformist.

50. Cash
From Latin capsa, meaning box, originally referring to a money box before becoming a word for money itself.

51. Blunderbuss
From Dutch words meaning “confuse” and “gun,” describing a wide-mouthed firearm notorious for indiscriminate firing.

52. Cynic
From Greek kynikos, “dog-like,” named after a school of philosophers who rejected materialism and convention.

53. Gargantuan
From François Rabelais’s giant character Gargantua, symbolising vast size.

54. Galaxy
From Greek galaxias, meaning “milky,” a reference to the Milky Way’s appearance.

55. Goblin
From Greek kobalos, meaning rogue or trickster, later evolving into mischievous folklore creatures.

56. Idiot
From Greek idiōtēs, meaning private citizen, implying someone uninvolved in public affairs, later generalised to ignorant.

57. Kangaroo
From the Guugu Yimidhirr language of Australia; legend claims it meant “I don’t understand” in a famous misunderstanding, though that’s debated.

58. Lethargic
From Greek Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in Hades; associated with oblivion and sluggishness.

59. Mummy
From Arabic mumiya, referring to bitumen used in embalming, which preserved bodies in ancient Egypt.