Word origins

• AbitbolA surname from French.
• Abitibi-OuestA regional county municipality of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec, Canada.
• Abitibi-TémiscamingueAn administrative region of Quebec, Canada.
• ablegateTo send abroad.
• abletA small fresh-water fish (Alburnus alburnus); the bleak.
• abomineTo abominate.
• abonnéA subscriber; a season ticket holder.
• abordageThe act of boarding a ship as part of an attack.
• à boucheHaving a bouche on the dexter side.
• abouchementThe point of union of two vessels.
• abracadabrantludicrous, preposterous
• abrasin oilAn oil from the tung tree that is used in paints and varnishes; tung oil.
• abreuvoirA cold water drinking fountain (for people) typically found in a public location; more generally, any fountain or water source (including for animals like birds, horses etc).
• Abri AuditOf or belonging to the prehistoric culture between the late Mousterian and Aurignacian.
• abstentionismA policy of abstaining or of the desirability of withholding one's vote or other participation with regard to some aspect of the political process.
• -acOne affected with.
• academistAn academic philosopher.
• acajouThe cashew tree.
• accableTo overwhelm; to encumber.
• acclimatationAcclimatization.
• accoléCrescent-shaped.
• accostableApproachable; affable; willing to be accosted.
• accoucheTo aid in an accouchement; to assist (a mother) in the birth (of a child).
• accouchementDelivery in childbed; parturition
• accoucheurA person, especially a man, who delivers a baby (in childbirth).
• accoucheuseA midwife.
• accouplementThe act of coupling, or the state of being coupled; union
• accusatorA male accuser.
• acerbitySourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit.
• acetificationThe act of making acetous or sour; the process of converting, or of becoming converted, into vinegar.
• acharnéRelentlessly opposed; irreconcilable.
• acharnementSavage fierceness; ferocity.
• acheeA surname from French.
• acheneA small, dry, indehiscent fruit, containing a single seed, as in the buttercup.
• AcheuleanOf or pertaining to a lower Paleolithic period characterized by the presence of flaked bifacial hand axes.
• acierageThe process of electroplating a copper engraving with iron or steel.
• acierateTo convert (iron) into steel, or to coat with a layer of steel by converting only the surface of the iron.
• acierationThe conversion of iron into steel.
• à contrecœurReluctantly, unwillingly, with disgust.
• acouchiAny of several rodents of the genus Myoprocta, smaller than agoutis, which inhabit Amazonia.
• acquiescementAcquiescence (assent, submission).
• acquis communautaireThe full body of European Union law.
• acrazeTo weaken, impair, or enfeeble in mind, body, or estate; craze.
• acroterAn acroterium.
• acte clairThe doctrine, in European law, that cases involving a law with a reasonably obvious interpretation do not need to be referred to the European Court of Justice.
• acte gratuitAn impulsive act lacking motive.
• actionalismThe theory of sociologist Alain Touraine that aims to replace sociology's focus from society to actors. Here, they emphasise the importance of individuals as agents of social systems, rather than passive observers.
• actor-networkA web of relationships insisting that society is built not by only humans, but also nonhuman objects which interact with the world as well.
• actuo-Present, current, living, active.
• actuopalynologyThe branch of palynology concerned with the study of modern-day pollens and spores, rather than with fossils.
• adapteeA class that is converted to another class using a so-called adapter class.
• AdenotA surname from French
• à deuxTo be played by two people.
• admirativeCharacterized by admiration.
• adoratorSynonym of adorer.
• adretThe sun-facing side of a mountain; in the northern hemisphere, this is typically the south-facing slope.
• aeolipileA steam engine powered by rocket propulsion due to escaping steam, consisting of a pressure vessel mounted on a bearing, with one or more tubes which exhaust steam tangentially to the rotation axis so as to create rotation, which is mostly regarded as a curiosity with no practical use.
• aerianOf or belonging to the atmosphere or to the air; aerial.
• aerobeAny organism (but especially a bacterium) that can tolerate the presence of oxygen, or that needs oxygen to survive.
• aeronatA dirigible balloon.
• aeronefairplane; a flying machine, an aircraft.
• aerophaneA thin fabric resembling crape
• aerostationAerial navigation; the act or science of raising and guiding balloons in the air.
• aesthetic informationSensory information that cannot be articulated in language.
• affaire d'honneurA duel.
• affamishTo cause (somebody) to die of hunger; to starve.
• afferenceThe brain’s reception of signals from the body.
• affinageThe aging of cheese as part of its manufacture.
• affineurOne who ages cheese and purveys it.
• affinitionThe state or quality of being affined; mental affinity or attraction.
• affranchiA freed (manumitted) black person in one of France's colonies, especially Haiti.
• affreuxA group of particularly brutal mercenaries who were active in Africa and Asia during the 1960s.
• affrontéFace to face, or with the fronts facing each other.
• after me the delugeA nihilistic expression of indifference to whatever happens after one is gone.
• after us the delugeA nihilistic expression of indifference to whatever happens after one is gone.
• agacerieCoquetry; flirtatiousness.
• agencementA layout (of e.g., a store) set up for a particular purpose; the structure of an economic market.
• agente provocatriceA female agent provocateur; a woman who incites someone to do something, especially something incriminating.
• agent generalThe representative of a British colony or, later, of a Canadian province or Australian state in key cities abroad.
• agent provocateurA person who secretly disrupts a group's activities from within the group, particularly by encouraging or committing illegal acts to discredit the group or expose them to prosecution; an instigator, troublemaker.
• agiotageStock exchange business; especially, stockjobbing, manipulation of securities prices.
• agnaticof the male bloodline; patrilineal
• agnésienneSynonym of witch of Agnesi.
• à gogoIn abundance, galore.
• agonicLacking an angle.
• AgouraiA commune and town in Fez-Meknes, Morocco.
• agraffeA decorated clasp consisting of a hook which fastens onto a ring, similar to hook and eye, used in armor or in ordinary clothing.
• agréationSynonym of agrément (“formal approval given by a state government to a foreign diplomat”).
• agrégéIn France, a civil servant who teaches as a professor.
• agrémensAgreeable qualities or circumstances.
• agrémentPleasant qualities, charms.
• agriotSynonym of sour cherry.
• aguerriedaccustomed to war
• aide-de-campA military officer who serves as an adjutant to a higher-ranking officer, prince or other high political dignitary.
• aide-mémoireA memory aid; a reminder or memorandum, especially a book or document serving this purpose.
• aigretteA feather or plume, or feather-shaped item, used as an adornment or ornament, typically in hats or hair.
• aiguillesqueShaped like an aiguille.
• aiguilletteAn ornamental braided cord with decorative metal tips worn on uniforms.
• ailetteA small square piece of armour, normally made of boiled leather, worn on the shoulders of knights.
• aimableCapable of being aimed.