Have you ever wanted to know where a word comes from? Studying where words come from and how they have changed throughout history is called etymology. It is really interesting to think that every word has unique path it has taken to be used today. Historians will look back and find the first known use of the word. This is called the word origin. You would be amazed at how a word will change over time and how they differ from culture to culture. If words have changed over time, it is normally done to make it easier to say or to make it sound different from similar words.

Words are often borrowed from one language to the next. This is most commonly found in things that cultures are likely to share with little communication needed. This would include things like sushi and other foods. Activities are also found to jump languages quickly like yoga or feng shui. If you look back at older works of literature, you will come across words we no longer use regularly. Why do you think that is? The language etymology worksheets that you will find below will encourage you to have a reference handy such as a dictionary or online tool. Make sure to have this at the ready. We will explore root words, prefixes, and suffixes that may help us learn more about the history of the language behind the word. This helps understand the current use of the word as well as how the word was used in history. This will also help you learn identify synonyms that may often get overlooked. We will look at word origins and see if we can identify languages where the word is derived from or first appeared. As we get into this for a bit, we will learn that there are some words that sound the same in just about every language. My favorite is coffee. This is a pretty recognizable word in over fifty different languages.