This is a collection of valid Scrabble words derived from the proper names of persons, whether real or mythical. It does not include words like DAISY or COOPER, where the proper name is derived from the common word rather than vice versa; nor does it include mere coincidences like ANEURIN where the common word derives from the Greek and has nothing to do with the Welsh name Aneurin.
Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
| ABELIA | any of several hardy evergreen shrubs of the honeysuckle family | Clarke Abel, 1780-1826, British botanist |
| ABELIAN | a term in group theory designating a type of commutative group. | Niels Henrik Abel, a mathematician |
| ABERNETHY | a hard biscuit, orig. with caraway seeds | possibly after Dr John Abernethy (1764—1831) who was interested in diet |
| ABIGAIL | a lady's maid | Abigail, a character in Beaumont & Fletcher's "The Scornful Lady" (mid-1600s) |
| ACHILLEA | a plant of the yarrow genus | Achilles, the Greek hero |
| ADAMSITE | a lung-irritating gas | Roger Adams, 1889-1971, American chemist |
| ADONISE ADONIZE | to adorn oneself | Adonis, a strikingly beautiful youth loved by Aphrodite in Gk myth |
| AEGIRINE AEGIRITE | a green pleochroic pyroxene | Aegir, the Norse sea-god |
| AEOLIAN | relating to erosion or transportation by wind; giving forth or marked by a moaning or sighing sound or musical tone produced by or as if by the wind | Aeolus, Greek god of the winds |
| AKELA | the adult leader of a group, or pack, of Cub Scouts | Akela, a character in Kipling's The Jungle Book |
| ALBERT | a short kind of watch-chain | Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort |
| ALBIZIA ALBIZZIA | a tropical tree | Filippo de Albizzi |
| ALDRIN | a kind of insecticide | Kurt Alder, 1902-1958, American chemist |
| ALECK | a smartass | perhaps in allusion to Aleck Hoag, a notorious thief and confidence man in New York City in early 1840s |
| ALEXANDRINE | a French verse form | perhaps from a poem on Alexander the Great by Alexandre Paris |
| ALEXANDRITE | a gem variety of chrysoberyl | Alexander I of Russia, 1777-1825 |
| ALFREDO | cooked with a cheese and egg sauce | Alfredo de Leilo |
| ALGORISM | use of the Arabic number system (rather than, say, Roman numerals) | Al-Khwarizm, 9th cent. mathematician |
| ALGORITHM | a step-by-step procedure for solving a particular problem or set of problems | Al-Khwarizm, 9th cent. mathematician |
| ALLANITE | a cerium-bearing aluminium iron silicate | T. Allan (1777—1833), a Scottish mineralogist |
| ALSTROEMERIA | a plant of the amaryllis family | C Alströmer, an 18c Swedish botanist |
| AMARYLLIS | the belladonna lily | Amaryllis, a girl's name in the Gr and L poets and others |
| AMAZON | a tall, aggressive, strong-willed woman | Amazons, a tribe of warrior women in classical legend |
| AMETHYST | a gem, formerly believed to prevent intoxication | from the nymph Amethyst, when pursued by the god of wine, was changed into this gem to protect her |
| AMP AMPERE | a unit of electric current | Andre Marie Ampere, 1775-1836, French physicist |
| ANDRADITE | a yellowish, green or brownish-black garnet, a silicate of calcium and iron, used as a gemstone | JB d'Andrada e Silva (1763—1838), Brazilian mineralogist |
| ANDROMEDA | a shrub of the heath family | Andromeda, in Greek mythology, a maiden delivered by Perseus from a sea-monster |
| ANGSTROM | a unit of wavelength | Anders Jonas Angstrom, 1814-1874, Swedish scientist |
| ANKERITE | a mineral, a rhombohedral carbonate of calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese | Professor MJ Anker (1772—1843), Austrian mineralogist |
| ANTONINIANUS | a Roman coin equal to two denarii in value | Antoninus, official name of the 3c emperor Caracalla |
| APGAR | as in APGAR score, a system for determining the condition of an infant at birth | Virginia Apgar |
| APOLLONIAN | In the philosophy of Nietzsche, denoting or relating to the set of static qualities that encompass form, reason, harmony | Apollo, Greek god of the sun |
| APHRODISIAC | an agent (as a food or drug) that arouses or is held to arouse sexual desire | Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty |
| APHRODITE | a kind of butterfly | Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty | v
| APOLLO | a kind of butterfly | Apollo, a Greek sun-god |
| ARETHUSA | a kind of orchid | Arethusa, in Greek myth a girl turned into a fountain by Artemis |
| ARFVEDSONITE | a sodium-rich amphibole | JA Arfvedson (1792—1841), Swedish mineralogist |
| ARGAND | a gas or oil lamp | A. Argand (1755-1803), French physicist |
| ARGONAUT | a sort of cuttlefish | the Argonauts who sailed in the ship Argo in search of the golden fleece |
| ARGYLE ARGYLL | a silver gravy dish | John, 4th Duke of Argyll |
| ARISTOTLE | rhyming slang for a bottle | Aristotle, Greek philosopher |
| ATHENAEUM ATHENEUM | a place with print materials to read; or, an institution to promote learning (e.g. a literary or science club, or a library) | ultimately from Gk meaning the "temple of Athena" |
| ATLAS | a book of maps | Atlas, the Greek giant believed to hold up the world, whose figure used to appear on title pages of atlases |
| AUBRIETA AUBRIETIA AUBRETIA | a plant of the purple-flowered Mediterranean genus Aubrieta of trailing cruciferous plants, much grown in rock-gardens, etc | Claude Aubriet (c.1665—1742), naturalist-painter |
| AURORA | a luminous atmospheric phenomenon | Aurora, Roman goddess of dawn |
| AUSTENITE | a solid solution of carbon or other substance in one of the forms of iron | WC Roberts-Austen (1843-1902), English metallurgist |
| AXEL | a kind of jump in figure skating | Axel Paulsen, Norwegian figure skater (1856—1938) |
| BABBITRY | narrow-minded middle-class complacence | from George Babbitt, hero of novel (1922) by American writer Sinclair Lewis |
| BABBITT | to fit with Babbitt's metal, a soft anti-friction alloy (tin, with copper, antimony, and usu lead). | Isaac Babbitt, an American inventor, died 1862 |
| BABESIA | a parasite causing cattle fever | Victor Babès (died 1926), Romanian bacteriologist |
| BABESIASIS BABESIOSIS | a disease of cattle | Victor Babès (died 1926), Romanian bacteriologist |
| BABINGTONITE | a pyroxene, ferrous silicate with admixtures, sometimes worked as an iron ore | William Babington (1756—1833), mineralogist |
| BACCHANAL | a drunken feast; an orgy | Bacchus, Roman god of wine |
| BACITRACIN | an antibiotic obtained from a certain bacterium and used against Gram-positive bacteria, esp in skin infections | LL bacillus, and Margaret Tracy, an American child in whom the substance was found |
| BADDELEYITE | a mineral | Joseph Baddeley, who brought specimens to Europe in 19c |
| BAINITE | a constituent of a certain stage in the heat treatment of steel | EC Bain (1891-m1971), US metallurgist |
| BAKELITE | tradename of an early, successful plastic | Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944), Amer, its inventor |
| BALTHAZAR | a large bottle = sixteen bottles of champagne | biblical Balthazar, one of the three wise men (magi) |
| BANKSIA | an evergreen, flowering shrub, native to Australia | Sir Joseph Banks, English naturalist |
| BANDONEON BANDONION BANDOLEON | a kind of button accordion popular in S America, esp for playing tango music | S American Spanish, from H Band, its German inventor |
| BANT | to diet, esp. a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet | William Banting (1797-1878), author of a 'Letter on Corpulence' (1869) |
| BAROQUE | a bold, vigorous, exuberant artistic style | possibly from Federigo Barocci (~1530-1612), Italian artist |
| BARTSIA | a kind of flower | Johann Bartsch (1709—38), Prussian botanist |
| BATISTE | a fine fabric of linen, cotton or wool | Fr. cambric, from Baptiste, the reputed original maker or from its use in wiping the heads of children after baptism |
| BAUD | a unit of data transmission speed | Maurice Emile Baudot, Fr engineer (1845—1903) |
| BAUHINIA | a genus of tropical trees | J and G Bauhin, 17c Swiss botanists |
| BEAUMONTAGUE BEAUMONTAGE | a composition for hiding cracks and holes in wood or iron, varying in make-up | Perh from Elie de Beaumont (1798—1874), French geologist |
| BECHAMEL | a white sauce flavoured with onion and herbs and sometimes enriched with cream | Louis de Béchamel (1603-1703), steward of Louis XIV of Fr |
| BECQUEREL | a unit of radioactivity | Antoine Henri Becquerel, Fr physicist (1852—1908) |
| BEDSONIA | a kind of virus | Sir Samuel Phillips Bedson |
| BEGONIA | a kind of flower | Michel Bégon, Fr governor of Haiti (1638—1710) |
| BEL, DECIBEL | a unit of difference in sound power | Alexander Graham Bell, Sc-Am inventor (1847—1922) |
| BELCHER | a small blue scarf with white dots | Jem Belcher (1781—1822), champion Brit. boxer, who regularly wore such a scarf, knotted suavely about the neck |
| BELLARMINE | a greybeard, or large jug with a big belly, decorated with a bearded face. | said to represent Cardinal Bellarmine |
| BELLINI | a cocktail made from prosecco and peach puree. | named for Giovanni Bellini, Italian painter, because the drink's pink colour resembles one used in one of his paintings |
| BENEDICT BENEDICK | a former newly married man who was previously a confirmed bachelor | Benedick, character in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing |
| BENJAMIN | a kind of overcoat | Joseph Benjamin, a tailor |
| BERGENIA | a genus of flowers | KA von Bergen (1704—60), German botanist and physician |
| BERTHA BERTHE | a woman's deep lace collar to hide a low neckline | Berthe, 8th century Frankish queen, mother of Charlemagne |
| BERTILLONAGE | a system of criminal identification by detailed measurement. | Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914), a Paris police officer. |
| BIGNONIA | a large genus of American, mostly tropical, climbing shrubs | the Abbé Bignon (1662—1743), Louis XIV's librarian |
| BILHARZIA | a genus of parasitic worms with adhesive suckers, infesting human and other blood | Theodor Bilharz (1825—62), German parasitologist |
| BILLY | a cylindrical container with a wire handle and lid for boiling water, cooking, etc out of doors | probably from the name Bill |
| BIOTITE | a black or dark ferromagnesian mica | JB Biot (1774—1862), French physicist and astronomer |
| BIRO | a ball-point pen | L´szló Biró, Hungarian, its inventor |
| BISHOP | to file down a horse's teeth to hide its age | from one Bishop who first practised it |
| BLOOMERS | an outfit for women, consisting of a jacket with close sleeves, a skirt falling a little below the knee, and long (or short), loose, baggy trousers gathered at the ankle (or below the knee) | Amelia Jenkins Bloomer, 1818-94, American feminist, who advocated this costume |
| BLUCHER | a type of high shoe or half boot | Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, (1742—1819) Prussian field marshal, defeated Napoléon at Laon, aided in victory at Waterloo |
| BLUEBEARD | a man who repeately marries and kills wives | Bluebeard, a fairy-tale character |
| BOBBITT | to cut off the penis of (one's husband or lover) | Lorena Bobbitt, an American woman who was annoyed with her husband and did this |
| BOBBY | a policeman | Sir Robert (Bob) Peel, who organized the London police force |
| BOEHMITE | a mineral present in BAUXITE | Johann Böhm, Ger. chemist |
| BOGART | to hog a thing; take more than one's share | Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), Amer film actor |
| BOHRIUM | an artificially produced radioactive transuranic element | Niels Bohr (1885—1962), Danish physicist |
| BOLIVAR | the unit of currency of Venezuela | Simón Bolívar, So. Amer liberator died 1830 |
| BOLTONIA | a N. American plant | James Bolton, 18th century English botanist |
| BONIFACE | the proprietor of a hotel, nightclub, or restaurant | Boniface, innkeeper in The Beaux' Stratagem (1707) by George Farquhar (1678—1707) |
| BORACHIO | a drunkard | perhaps taken from Spanish; perh. taken from Borachio, a character Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing |
| BOREAL | of the north wind, or the north | Boreus, Gk god of the north wind |
| BORK | to systematically attack a public figure, esp. in the media | Judge Robert H. Bork, whose confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court was blocked by his opponents' media campaign (1987) |
| BORNITE | a copper ore, sulphide of copper and iron | I von Born (1742—91), Austrian mineralogist |
| BORONIA | an Australian scented shrub of the genus Boronia | F Borone (1769—94), Italian botanist |
| BOSIE | in criket, a googly | Bernard Bosanquet, its inventor |
| BOSON | a class of subatomic particles | SN Bose (1894—1974), Indian physicist |
| BOUGAINVILLEA BOUGAINVILIA BOUGAINVILLAEA | a certain flowering plant, common in gardening | Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Fr explorer (1729—1811), and who discovered the this plant |
| BOULE BOULLE BUHL BUHLWORK | a form of marquetry with e.g. gold and silver inlaid in tortoiseshell | Andre Charles Boule, 1642-1732, French cabinet maker |
| BOWDLERIZE | to expurgate (a book, for example) prudishly | Thomas Bowdler, English physician (1754—1825), published a "family Shakespeare", expurgating wording he deemed unsuitable (1818) |
| BOWIE | a heavy hunting, fighting and throwing knife | Jim Bowie, American frontiersman |
| BOWLER | a stiff felt hat with a round crown and narrow brim | Bowler, the name of a hatter who made it in 1850 |
| BOWSER | a light tanker used for refuelling aircraft on an airfield | Sylvanus Bowser, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, who owned the company that manufactured these originally |
| BOYCOTT | to engage in concerted refusal to deal with | Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832—1897), Irish landlord ostracized for refusing to reduce rents |
| BOYSENBERRY | a hybrid of certain raspberries and blackberries | Rudolph Boysen (1895—1950), US horticulturalist |
| BRAGGADOCCIO | empty, vain bragging | Braggadocchio, character in The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser (1552—1599) |
| BRAILLE | a kind of raised type in relief for the blind | Louis Braille, 1809-1852, French teacher of the blind |
| BRAUNITE | an ore of manganese | AE Braun, German treasury official |
| BROCARD | an elementary legal principle or maxim | Burchart, 11th-cent. bishop of Worms and compiler of volumes of ecclesiastical rules |
| BROMELIA | any plant of the genus Bromelia, giving name to the pineapple family | Swedish botanist Olaf Bromel (1639—1705 |
| BROOKITE | a mineral, titanium oxide | Henry James Brooke (1771—1857), English mineralogist |
| BROUGHAM | a car, or a closed carriage, with an open driver's seat | Henry Peter Brougham, Baron Brougham and Vaux, Scot jurist (1778—1868) |
| BROWALLIA | a flowering plant | Johann Browall, Swedish botanist |
| BRUCELLOSIS | a disease of animals, communicable to man as undulant fever | Sir David Bruce (1855—1931), Australian-born bacteriologist |
| BRUCINE | an alkaloid obtained from nux vomica | James Bruce (1730—94), Scottish traveller |
| BRUCITE | magnesium hydroxide | A Bruce, American mineralogist |
| BRUIN | a bear | Bruin, the name of the bear in medieval stories of Reynard the Fox. |
| BUCKYBALL | a ball-shaped molecule containing 60 carbon atoms. | Buckminster Fuller, American architect |
| BUDDLEIA | a plant of the genus Buddleia, shrubs and trees with opposite leaves and showy clusters of purple or orange flowers | Adam Buddle (died 1715), English botanist |
| BUMBLEDOM | pompous self-importance and officiousness in a minor official | Mr. Bumble, an officious beadle in Dickens' Oliver Twist |
| BUNSEN | a device used in chemistry, for heating | Professor Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811—1899), who perfected the device |
| BURKE | to suffocate; figuratively, to suppress quietly or indirectly | William Burke, died 1829, who smothered victims to sell the bodies to medical students for dissection |
| BURNETTISE BURNETTIZE | to subject (wood, fabrics, etc.) to a process of saturation in a solution of chloride of zinc, to prevent decay | Sir William Burnett who invented the process |
| BURNSIDES | side whiskers | General Ambrose Burnside, 1824-1881, US Civil War general |
| BURPEE | a gymnastic exercise combining a squat thrust and a star jump | RH Burpee, its US inventor |
| BURSERA | a tropical American genus of trees yielding elemi and timber | Joachim Burser (1593—1649), German botanist |
| BUSBY | a tall ceremonial hat of some Brit soldiers | Richard Busby (1606-1695), headmaster of Westminster school |
| CAESAREAN | an operation to deliver a baby | Gaius Julius Caesar,(100-44 BC), Roman dictator delivered by this means |
| CALLIOPE | a keyboard instrument similar to an organ | Calliope, the Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses |
| CAMELIA CAMELLIA | a flowering shrub | Georg Josef Kamel, Moravian Jesuit missionary (1661—1706) |
| CANFIELD | a card game, a kind of patience | RA Canfield (1855-1914), US gambler |
| CAPPUCINO | a kind of coffee | the Cappuchin monks, who wear a habit of the same color |
| CARDIGAN | a type of sweater or jacket | J.T. Brudnell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, 1797-1818 |
| CARNALLITE | a hydrous chloride of potassium and magnesium | Rudolf Von Carnall (1804—74), mineralogist |
| CARNOTITE | a hydrous chloride of potassium and magnesium | Rudolf Von Carnall (1804—74), mineralogist |
| CAROLUS | a gold coin of the time of Charles I; any gold coin of the reigns of various kings named Charles | Carolus, Latin for Charles |
| CARPACCIO | an hors-d'oeuvre made of thin strips of raw meat or fish, often eaten with a relish | Vittore Carpaccio (c.1455-1522), Venetian painter, noted for his vivid red colours |
| CARYATID | a female figure used to support columns | Karyatis, a priestess of Artemis |
| CATTLEYA | any American orchid of the genus Cattleya, grown for their large pink or white flowers | William Cattley, English botanist |
| CAVENDISH | tobacco moistened and pressed into rectangular cakes | possibly from the name of the orig manufacturer |
| CECROPIA | a tree of the mulberry family | the mythical Attic King Cecrops represented as half-dragon, half-human |
| CELADON | a pale-green colour; a Chinese pottery glaze of the colour; the pottery so glazed. | Fr, perh after a character Celadon in D'Urfé's Astrée |
| CENTIMORGAN | one hundredth of a MORGAN, a unit of distance between genes on a chromosome | Thomas Hunt Morgan, 1866-1945, US biologist |
| CEREAL | a food made from grain | Ceres, Roman goddess of agriculture |
| CERBEREAN CERBERIAN | like a grim watchman | Cerberus, in Greek myth the three-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld |
| CHANTICLEER | a rooster | Chanticleer, the name of the rooster in medieval 'Reynard the Fox' stories. The name means 'sing loud' in Fr. |
| CHAPTALISE CHAPTALIZE | to add extra sugar to wine during its fermentation to increase its alcohol content, usu a prohibited or closely controlled practice | JA Chaptal (1756—1832), French chemist |
| CHARLOTTE | a kind of deep tart containing fruit and covered with sponge or bread | from the female personal name Charlotte |
| CHASSEPOT | a breech-loading rifle used by the French army between 1866 and 1874 | AA Chassepot, who invented it |
| CHATEAUBRIAND | a large tenderloin steak usually grilled or broiled and served with a sauce | Francois Rene, Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), French author and statesman |
| CHAUVINISM | fanatical glorification of one's country | Nicolas Chauvin, fanatically devoted soldier under Napoleon; became an eponym when his name was used as a character in the Cogniard brothers' play La Cocarde Tricolore (1831) |
| CHESTERFIELD | a type of sofa, large with upholstered arms | Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) |
| CHURRIGUERESQUE | a baroque architectural style characterized by elaborate surface decoration | José Benito Churriguera, Sp architect (1665—1725) |
| CICERO | a typeface | Cicero, a Roman orator |
| CICERONE | a guide who conducts sightseers | Cicero, a Roman orator |
| CIMMERIAN | very dark or gloomy | Gk Kimmerioi, a mythical people reputed to lvie in darkness |
| CINCHONA | the tree bark that yields quinine | Countess of Chinchón, wife of viceroy of Peru. Legend: when this bark cured her 1638 fever, she had more collected for malaria sufferers |
| CLARENCE | a four-wheeled carriage | the Duke of Clarence (William IV) |
| CLARKIA | any plant of the N American genus Clarkia, a favourite border plant | named in honour of William Clark (1770—1838), US explorer of the Pacific North-west |
| CLAYTONIA | a N American plant of the genus Claytonia, related to Lewisia, having succulent leaves and small cup-shaped flowers | J Clayton (1693—1773), US botanist |
| CLEOPATRA | a yellow butterfly | Cleopatra, a queen of Egypt |
| CLERIHEW | a witty verse, of two rhyming couplets, on a person named in one of the rhymes | Edmund Clerihew Bentley, Br writer (1875—1956) |
| CLEVEITE | a pitchblende in octahedral crystals containing helium, a variety of uraninite | PT Cleve (1840—1905), Swedish chemist |
| CLINTONIA | any liliaceous plant of the genus Clintonia | De Witt Clinton, 1769-1828, US politician and naturalist |
| CLIOMETRICS | the study of history using mathematical and economic models and analysis | Clio, Gk muse of history |
| CLIVIA | any of the leek-like S African plants of the genus Clivia | Lady Charlotte Clive (1787—1866)] |
| CLUSIA | any plant of the American genus Clusia, evergreen climbing plants, shrubs and trees, including the pitch apple | Charles de Lécluse (L Clusius), French botanist |
| COEHORN, COHORN | a small mortar for throwing grenades | Baron van Coehoorn (1641—1704)] |
| COESITE | a mineral | Loring Coes Jr (1915-1973), American chemist |
| COFFINITE | a uranium-yielding ore | [RC Coffin, a worker of the ore in Colorado] |
| COLEMANITE | a mineral | William T. Coleman, mine owner |
| COLLINS | a type of cocktail, as in vodka collins | possibly after a well-known barman, Tom Collins |
| COLONE | a monetary unit of Costa Rica | from Cristobal Colon (Columbus) |
| COMSTOCKERY | censorship on basis of immorality or obscenity (coined by George Bernard Shaw) | Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), self-appointed Am crusader against immorality |
| COMUS | a revel | Comus, son of Bacchus and Circe, a god of mirth and revelry |
| CORDIERITE | the mineral iolite or dichroite. | PLA Cordier (1777—1861), French mineralogist |
| CORDOBA | the standard monetary unit of Nicaragua | Francisco Fernandez de Córdoba (died about 1518) |
| CORREA | an Australian evergreen shrub with large showy tubular flowers | Jose Francesco Correa da Serra, (1750—1823),Portuguese botanist |
| COULOMB | a unit of electric charge | Charles Augustine de Coulomb, 1736-1806, French physicist/inventor |
| COVELLITE | a blue mineral, cupric sulphide | N Covelli (1790—1829), Italian mineralogist |
| CRISPIN | a poetic name for a shoemaker | Crispin of Soissons, the patron saint of shoemakers, martyred 25 October 287. |
| CUDBEAR | a purple or reddish dyestuff obtained from various lichens | Dr Cuthbert Gordon, 18c Scottish chemist |
| CURIE, CURIUM | a unit of radioactive activity | Marie Curie, Pol-born Fr chemist (1867—1934) |
| DAEDAL | cunningly made; skillful; artul; ingenious | Daedalus ("the cunning one"), Athenian inventor in Gk myth |
| DAGUERREOTYPE | an early type of photograph | L. J. M. Daguerre, Fr. painter died 1851 |
| DAHLIA | a kind of flower | Anders Dahl, Swedish botanist (1751—1787) |
| DALMAHOY | a bushy bobwig worn in the 18c. | said to be named from a wearer |
| DALTON | a unit of atomic mass | John Dalton, Br chemist (1766—1844) |
| DANTHONIA | a tufted grass native to Australia and New Zealand | E Danthoine, 19c French botanist |
| DARBIES | handcuffs | apparently from the personal name Darby |
| DARIC | an old gold or silver Persian coin | Darius I of Persia |
| DAUPHIN | (in France, from 1349—1830) the eldest son of the king | from Delphinus, family name of the lords of the Viennois |
| DAVENPORT | a kind of sofa | originally designed for Captain Davenport, a ship's captain, by the firm of Gillow & Barton |
| DAVY | the safety lamp used in coalmines | Sir Humphry Davy (1778—1829). |
| DAWSONITE | a kind of mineral | Sir John W. Dawson (1874). |
| DEBYE | a unit of electric dipole moment | PJW Debye (1884—1966), Dutch physicist |
| DERBY | a kind of hat | Edward Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (1752—1834), founder of the English Derby (name transferred from person to race, and then from race to hat worn there) |
| DERRICK | a lifting device | Thomas Derrick, (c. 1600), a well-known Tyburn hangman |
| DERRINGER | a short-barreled pocket pistol | Henry Deringer, 19th century American gunsmith |
| DEUTZIA | a genus of saxifragaceous plants with panicles of white flowers, introduced from China and Japan | Johann van der Deutz, 18c Dutch patron of botany |
| DEWAR | a type of vacuum flask | Sir James Dewar (1842—1923), its inventor |
| DEWITT | to lynch | from the fate of Jan and Cornelius De Witt in Holland in 1672 |
| DEXTER | a breed of cattle | possibly from the name of a breeder |
| DIDDLE | to cheat, swindle in a small way | Jeremy Diddler, character in the successful 1803 farce Raising the Wind by James Kenney |
| DIEFFENBACHIA | any plant of the tropical American araceous genus Dieffenbachia, including the dumbcane | E Dieffenbach (died 1855), German botanist |
| DIESEL | a diesel engine; a locomotive, train, etc driven by a diesel engine; diesel oil | Rudolph Diesel, 1858-1913, German automotive designer |
| DIONYSIAC DIONYSIAN | sensuous, frenzied, or orgiastic | Dionysus, Greek god of wine and revelry |
| DOBBIN | a workhorse | an altered dimin of Robert, traditionally used as a name for a horse |
| DOBRO | an acoustic steel guitar with metallic resonator | from the Dobson brothers, American guitar makers, 1920s |
| DOILY | a lace mat for a cake-plate | from a Mr Doiley (or possibly Doyley/Doyly), successful London draper or milliner around 1700 |
| DOLOMITE | a mineral, double carbonate of calcium and magnesium; a rock composed of that mineral, magnesian limestone | D Guy de Dolomieu (1750—1801), French geologist |
| DOMETT | a plain cloth with cotton warp and woollen weft | perhaps a proper name |
| DOOLAN | (NZ) a Roman Catholic | probably from the Irish family name |
| DOPPLERITE | a black elastic substance (calcium salts of humus acids) found in peat beds | Christian Doppler, (1803—53), Austrian physicist |
| DRACONIAN | exceedingly harsh; very severe | Draco, Gk politician who codified the laws of Athens (~621 BC). His code was unpopular for its severity. |
| DRAISENE DRAISINE | an early kind of bicycle | Baron von Drais, of Sauerbrun, its inventor |
| DRYASDUST | a dull, pedantic speaker or writer | Dr. Jonas Dryasdust, a fictitious character to whom Sir Walter Scott dedicated some of his novels |
| DULCINEA | a sweetheart | from Dulcinea del Toboso, the name given by Don Quixote to the mistress of his imagination |
| DUMORTIERITE | a blue, greenish-blue, pink or violet semi-precious gemstone, aluminium borosilicate | French palaeontologist Eugène Dumortier (1802—76), who discovered it |
| DUNCE | a slow learner, a stupid person | John Duns Scotus, c.1265-1308, a Scottish theologian |
| DUNDREARIES | long flowing sideburns | Lord Dundreary, character in the play Our American Cousin (1858) by Tom Taylor |
| DUNNITE | a kind of explosive based on ammonium picrate | from its inventor, the US army officer, Col BW Dunn (1860—1936) |
| DUXELLES | a mince of mushrooms, chopped shallots and herbs simmered in butter | The Marquis d'Uxelles, 17c French nobleman |
| ECHEVERIA | a plant of the genus Echeveria of succulent plants of the Crassulaceae family | Echeveri, 19c Mexican botanical artist |
| EGLOMISE | made of glass with a picture painted on the back; (noun) the technique of gilding the back of a sheet of glass | Jean-BaptisteGlomy, 18c French decorator and art-dealer |
| EINSTEINIUM | a chemical element | Albert Einstein, physicist |
| EONISM | adoption by a male of female dress and manner | Chevalier d'Éon, French diplomat (died 1810) who chose female dress as a disguise |
| EPICUREAN | one who is devoted to luxury | Epicurus, Gk philosopher (341—270 BC) |
| ERISTIC | disputatious | Eris, Gk god of strife and discord |
| ERLANG | a unit of traffic intensity on a telephone system | AK Erlang, 1878-1929, Danish mathematician |
| EROTIC | relating to sexual love | Eros, Gk god of sexual love |
| ESCALLONIA | a plant of the S American genus Escallonia of shrubs of the saxifrage family | Escallon, an 18c Spanish traveller |
| ESCHSCHOLTZIA ESCHCHOLZIA | a plant of the genus Eschschol(t)zia of the poppy family Papaveraceae, including the Californian poppy, a showy garden annual | JF von Eschscholtz, a member of the expedition that discovered the poppy in 1821 |
| EUGENIA | any plant of the clove genus Eugenia of the myrtle family | after Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663—1736)] |
| EUPHORBIA | a plant of the spurge genus Euphorbia | Euphorbos, Greek physician to Juba, king of Mauretania |
| EUPHUISM | affected elegance of language | Euphues, a character in Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and his England by John Lyly |
| FAGIN | one who instructs others in crime | Fagin, character in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (1839) |
| FANG | (Australian slang) to drive recklessly | Juan Manuel Fangio, 1911–95, Argentine racing car driver |
| FARAD | a unit of electrical capacitance | Michael Faraday, Br physicist and chemist (1791—1867) |
| FARADAY | a unit used in electrolysis | Michael Faraday, Br physicist and chemist (1791—1867) |
| FARNESOL | an alcohol found in various essential oils and used in perfumes | from Acacia farnesiana, after Odoardo Farnese, 16c Italian cardinal |
| FAUSTIAN | insatiably striving for worldly knowledge and power at the price of spiritual values | Johann Faust (1480?—1540?), Ger magician and alchemist |
| FAVONIAN | mild; benign | Favonius, the west wind personified in myth |
| FEDORA | a brimmed felt hat dented lengthways | Fédora Romanoff, title role in Victorien Sardou's tragedy Fédora (1882), in which Sarah Bernhardt made a triumphant comeback |
| FEIJOA | any of various evergreen shrubs or trees of the genus Feijoa; the aromatic quince-like fruit they bear | J da Silva Feijo, 19c Brazilian naturalist |
| FERMI | a unit of wavelength | Enrico Fermi (1901—54), Italian physicist |
| FERMION | a kind of subatomic particle | Enrico Fermi (1901—54), Italian physicist |
| FERMIUM | an artificially produced radioactive transuranic metallic element | Enrico Fermi (1901—54), Italian physicist |
| FILBERT | a hazelnut | from St. Philibert, whose feast day falls at the peak of the nutting season |
| FLACK | to work as a publicity agent | possibly after Gene Flack, a publicity agent for movies |
| FLEROVIUM | an artificially produced element | from the Soviet physiciat G.N.Flerov (1913—1990) |
| FLINDERSIA | any tree of the Australian genus Flindersia, valuable trees of the Rutaceae family | from the explorer Matthew Flinders (1774—1814) |
| FLINKITE | a kind of mineral | from the Swedish mineralogist Gustav Flink (1849-1931) |
| FOLEY | in filmmaking, the adding of sound effects; the person who does this job | Jack Foley, pioneering sound effects editor at Universal Studios in the 1930s (1891—1967) |
| FORSTERITE | a variety of olivine | JR Forster (1729—98), German naturalist |
| FORSYTHIA | any shrub of the genus Forsythia, a popular garden plant producing clusters of yellow jasmine-like flowers in the spring | William Forsyth (1737—1804), Scottish botanist |
| FOTHERGILLA | any plant of the Fothergilla genus of N American deciduous shrubs of the witch-hazel family | Dr John Fothergill, 18c British physician and botanist |
| FRANGIPANI | pastry cream filling, almond-flavored; also, perfume of the frangipani shrub | Muzio Frangipani, 16th c. Ital marquis |
| FRANSERIA | any of a genus of W. American plants of the composite family | A Franseri, 18th century botanist |
| FREESIA | a plant of the S African genus Freesia of scented greenhouse plants of the iris family | FHT Freese or HT Frees, German physicians, or according to some, EM Fries, Swedish botanist |
| FRESNEL | a unit of optical frequency | AJ Fresnel (1788—1827), French physicist |
| FRISBEE | a disc used for throwing | originally tins from Mrs. Frisbie's Pies, made by the Frisbie Bakery, which U.S. college students began throwing around in the 1930s |
| FUCHSIA | a flowering shrub | Leonhard Fuchs, Ger botanist died 1566 |
| FUCHSITE | a brilliant green chromium mica | JN von Fuchs (1774—1856), German mineralogist |
| FULLERENE | a ball-shaped molecule consisting of carbon atoms | Buckminster Fuller (1895—1983), US engineer |
| FUNCKIA FUNKIA | any plant of an E Asiatic genus allied to the day lilies, now called hosta | German botanist, HC Funck (1771—1839) |
| FURCRAEA | a tropical American genus of plants related to the agave. | A. F. de Fourcroy (1755-1800), French chemist |
| FURPHY | Australian slang: an unreliable report; a "latrine rumor" | either 1) Furphy company's portable toilets in WWI Australia, or 2) Joseph Furphy (1843-1912), Aus. author of tall stories |
| GADOLINIUM | a rare metallic element found associated with yttrium | Johann Gadolin, Finnish geologist and chemist |
| GAHNITE | a zinc spinel | JG Gahn (1745—1818), Swedish chemist |
| GAILLARDIA | a N American plant of the genus Gaillardia | Gaillard de Marentonneau, 18c French botanist |
| GALATEA | a durable cotton cloth, often striped | from HMS Galatea |
| GALTONIA | any of several bulbous plants of the lily family native to Southern Africa | Sir Francis Galton (1822—1911), British scientist |
| GALVANISE GALVANIZE | stimulate to action, as if by electric shock | Luigi Galvani, It physician and physicist died 1798 |
| GAMP | a large baggy umbrella | as carried by Mrs. Sarah Gamp, character in Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit |
| GANYMEDE | a cupbearer, a serving boy | from Ganymedes, the beautiful youth who succeeded Hebe as cupbearer to Zeus |
| GARCINIA | a tropical evergreen tree of the Garcinia genus of Guttiferae, yielding gamboge, kokum butter, and mangosteen | Laurent Garcin (1683—1752), French botanist |
| GARDENIA | a kind of flower | Alexander Garden, Sc-born Am naturalist and physician (1730?—1791) |
| GARGANTUA | a monster in a Japanese film | Giant-hero Gargantua in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel |
| GARGANTUAN | of immense size | Giant-hero Gargantua in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel |
| GARIBALDI | a type of biscuit; a type of woman's blouse | Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807—1882), Italian patriot and leader of the drive to unite Italy. |
| GARNIERITE | a green hydrated nickel, magnesium silicate | Jules Garnier (1839—1904), French geologist who discovered it in New Caledonia |
| GARRYA | any of various N. American evergreen shrubs | named after N Garry (1781—1856) of the Hudson's Bay Company |
| GATLING | as in gatling gun, a machinegun with a cluster of rotating barrels | named after its inventor RJ Gatling |
| GAULTHERIA | a plant of the Gaultheria genus of evergreen aromatic plants of the heath family, which includes the American wintergreen and salal | Swedish-Canadian botanist Hugues Gaulthier |
| GAUSS | a unit of magnetic flux density | Karl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician (1777-1855) |
| GAUSSIAN | of or due to Gauss | Karl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician (1777-1855) |
| GAVOTTE | a kind of country dance | originally a dance of the Gavots, a people of the French Upper Alps |
| GAZANIA | any plant of the genus Gazania of the southern hemisphere with bright yellow or orange composite flowers | Theodore of Gaza (1398—1478), who translated the botanical works of Theophrastus |
| GENTIAN | any plant of the genus Gentiana, herbs, usu blue-flowered, abounding chiefly in alpine regions | according to Pliny from Gentius, king of Illyria, who introduced it in medicine (2c BC) |
| GEORGETTE | a sheer silk clothing fabric with a dull, creped surface. | named after Georgette de la Plante, Fr dressmaker |
| GERARDIA | any of a genus of often root-parasitic herbs of the snapdragon family | John GerardEnglish botanist |
| GERBERA | a plant belonging to the Gerbera genus of composite plants of S Africa, etc | T Gerber (died 1743), German naturalist |
| GERONIMO | a shout given by paratroopers | Geronimo, 1829-1909, Apache leader |
| GERRYMANDER | to rearrange (voting districts) in the interests of a particular party or candidate | Elbridge Gerry, 1744-1814, politician |
| GESNERIA | a plant of the tropical American genus Gesneria | Konrad von Gesner (1516—65), Swiss botanist and scholar |
| GIARDIA | a genus of parasitic protozoa which commonly infect the small intestine of mammals, including man | A Giard (1846—1908), French biologist |
| GIBBSITE | hydroxide of aluminium, Al(OH)3, an important constituent of bauxite | George Gibbs (died 1833), American mineralogist |
| GIBUS | a collapsible top hat | Fr, from the maker's name |
| GILBERT | an electromagnetic unit of magnetomotive force | William Gilbert, Eng court physician (1544—1603) |
| GILSONITE | the trademark name of the mineral uintaite or uintahite | Samuel H. Gilson, owner of a mining company |
| GLADSTONE | a four-wheeled pleasure carriage with two inside seats, calash top, and seats for driver and footman | William Ewart Gladstone (1809—1898), British Prime Minister |
| GLAUBERITE | a greyish-white mineral, sodium calcium sulphate, found chiefly in rock salt | Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604—68), German chemist |
| GLOXINIA | a plant of the tropical American genus of Gesneriaceae, Gloxinia, with bright bell-shaped flowers | BP Gloxin, German botanist |
| GMELINITE | a sodium aluminium zeolite | CG Gmelin (1792—1860), German chemist |
| GNATHONIC | flattering | from Gnatho, a character in Terence's Eunuchus, from Greek gnathos, jaw |
| GODETIA | any plant of the American genus Godetia, closely related to the evening primrose | CH Godet, Swiss botanist (1797—1879) |
| GOETHITE, GOTHITE | a mineral | in honour of J.W.Goethe, German poet |
| GOLIARD | any of a band of medieval wandering students and scholars noted for their riotous behaviour and esp their satirical Latin poems lampooning the Church | after a mythical bishop Golias to whom the poems were attributed |
| GOLIATH | a person or thing of colossal size or power | Goliath, a philistine giant in the bible, slain by David |
| GORGON | an ugly or repulsive woman | Gorgons, three snaky-haired sisters in Gk myth |
| GORGONEION | a mask carved in imitation of a gorgon's head | Gorgons, three snaky-haired sisters in Gk myth |
| GRAHAM | bread made of unbolted wheat flour | Sylvester Graham, 19th-century American Presbyterian minister and proponent of a puritan lifestyle based on teetotalling, vegetarianism, and whole wheat |
| GRAMICIDIN | a kind of antibiotic | HCJ Gram (1853—1938), Danish bacteriologist who devised the method, and L caedere to kill |
| GRANGERIZE | to illustrate with pictures collected from other books; to mutilate books to get such materials | James Granger, Eng. biographer died 1776 |
| GRAY | a unit of energy absorbed from ionizing radiation | Louis Harold Gray, British radiobiologist (1905—1965) |
| GREENGAGE | a kind of fruit | Sir William Gage, 2nd Baronet (c. 1656—1727), a botanist and 2nd Baronet of Hengrave, is believed to have brought the plum to England from France in 1724. |
| GRINCH | someone who ruins others' enjoyment | from the Grinch, a character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) by Dr. Seuss, pseudonym of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991) |
| GRINDELIA | a resinous, composite Californian plant, aka tarweed | D.H.Grindel, a Russian |
| GROG | rum cut with water | Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon died 1757, Eng admiral admiral who ordered that his sailors' rum be served diluted. The admiral earned the nickname from his habit of wearing a grogram cloak. Grogram is a coarse fabric of silk, wool, mohair, or a blend of them. The word grogram is from French gros grain(large grain or texture). |
| GUILLOCHE | ornamental borders or mouldings formed of interlacing curved bands enclosing roundels; (verb) to decorate with intersecting curved lines | Fr, a guilloching tool; said to be named from one Guillot |
| GUILLOTINE | an instrument for beheading people with a sharp descending blade | Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738—1814), physician and Fr Revolution Assembly-member, advocated it as more humane than hanging |
| GUNNERA | a very large-leaved ornamental plant of the Gunnera genus | JE Gunnerus (1718—73), Norwegian botanist |
| GUPPY | a small brightly coloured W. Indian fish | R. J. Lechmere Guppy (1836—1916), Trinidad clergyman who first supplied specimens to the British Museum |
| GURNEY | a wheeled stretcher or cart (as used in a hospital, etc | origin uncertain; perh from the personal name Gurney |
| GUSSIE | an effeminate man | from dimin of the personal name Augustus |
| GUY | chap, fellow | originally, an effigy of Guy Fawkes, leader of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up British king |
| GUYOT | a flat-topped underwater mountain | AH Guyot (1807—84), Swiss-born American geologist |
| HAHNIUM | a former name for the element dubnium or hassium | Otto Hahn (1879—1968), German physicist |
| HALCYON | a bird that calmed the sea on the winter solstice; the kingfisher | Alkyone, the daughter of the Greek god of the winds, changed into a kingfisher |
| HALLOYSITE | a clayey mineral, a hydrated aluminium silicate | Omalius d'Halloy (1783—1875), Belgian geologist |
| HANSOM | a light two-wheeled horse-drawn cab with the driver's seat raised behind | Joseph A Hansom (1803—82), its inventor |
| HANUMAN | a long-tailed sacred monkey of India | Hanuman, an Indian monkey-god |
| HARLEQUIN | a clown-like pattern of brightly diamond shapes | Arlecchino (in French Harlequin), Ital commedia dell'arte's buffoonish stock-character. (Ital term may come from Old F Hellequin, who led a band of demons across the sky on ghostly horses.) |
| HATCHETTITE | mountain tallow, a natural waxy hydrocarbon | Charles Hatchett (died 1847), English chemist |
| HAUYNE | a blue mineral, in composition like nosean, with calcium | René J Haüy (1743—1822), French mineralogist |
| HAVELOCK | a covering on a cap to protect the back of the neck | Sir Henry Havelock, Eng. general died 1857 |
| HAWKSHAW | a detective | Hawkshaw, a theatrical gumshoe introduced in the 1863 play The Ticket of Leave Man by British dramatist Tom Taylor |
| HECTOR | a bully, braggart | Hektor, the Trojan champion in the Trojan War |
| HELLERI | a kind of tropical fish | C. Heller, a 20th century tropical fish collector |
| HENRY | a unit of inductance | Joseph Henry, Amer physicist (1797—1878) |
| HERCULEAN | of extraordinary power, size, or difficulty | Hercules, a hero of Greek myth |
| HERDIC | a low-hung two- or four-wheeled carriage with a back entrance and side seats | P. Herdic (1824—88), its inventor |
| HERMAPHRODITIC | animal or plant with both male and female reproductive organs; also, a combination of diverse elements | Hermaphroditos, son of Hermes and Aphrodite who becomes joined in one body with a nymph while bathing |
| HERMETIC | recondite. Also: [from belief he invented a magic seal] airtight, or impervious to external influence | Hermes Trismegistus (lit. 'Hermes thrice greatest), legendary author concerning magic, astrology and alchemy |
| HERTZ | a unit of wave frequency | Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Ger physicist (1857—1894) |
| HEUCHERA | any plant of the N American Heuchera genus of the Saxifragaceae family with stems of many small flowers and heart-shaped leaves | Johann Heucher (1677—1747), German botanist |
| HEULANDITE | a zeolite like stilbite | H Heuland (1777—1856), English mineralogist |
| HIDDENITE | an emerald-green variety of spodumene found in North Carolina | William E. Hidden, b. 1918, American mineralogist |
| HOBDAY | to cure a breathing impediment (in a horse) by surgical operation | Sir Frederick Hobday (1869—1939), British veterinary surgeon |
| HOMERIC | grand, heroic | Homer, Greek poet |
| HOOLIGAN | a lout | perh. fr. Patrick Hooligan, Irish hoodlum in London floruit 1898 |
| HOOVER | a vacuum cleaner; to vacuum with one | William Henry Hoover, Amer industrialist (1849—1932) |
| HORLICKS | a mess | tradename of a hot drink |
| HOSTA | any plant of the Hosta genus of decorative perennial herbaceous plants | NT Host (1761—1834), Austrian botanist |
| HOUSTONIA | a small N. Americna plant with blue or white flowers | Dr William Houston (died 1733), Scots botanist |
| HOYLE | a rule book | Edmond Hoyle (1672?-1769), Br writer on games |
| HOTSPUR | a hot-headed, impetuous man | Hotspur, in Shakespeare's Henry V. |
| HYACINTH | a type of flower | Hyacinth, a handsome young man in Greek myth adored by two gods |
| IGNORAMUS | an utterly ignorant person | Ignoramus, a lawyer in George Ruggle's play Ignoramus (1615). Latin for "we are ignorant of" |
| IRUKANDJI | a venomous jellyfish | After the Irukandji people of N. Queensland. |
| JACKANAPES | a silly, conceited person; a ridiculous upstart | nickname for William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (1396-1450), whose coat of arms included an ape; slang for monkey was Jack Napes ("Jack of Naples") |
| JACQUARD | an intricately-woven variegated fabric | J.M. Jacquard, 1757-1834, French inventor, industrialist |
| JACUZZI | a type of bath or small pool equipped with a mechanism that agitates the water to massage and invigorate the body | trademarked name, from company founder Roy Jacuzzi |
| JANSKY | a unit in radio astronomy | Karl G Jansky, the American radio engineer who first discovered radio interference coming from the stars |
| JEFF | (Australian slang) to spoil ruthlessly | Jeff Kennett, a former premier of the state of Victoria |
| JEHU | one who drives furiously | Jehu, king of Israel, known for his wild chariot driving (Bible II Kings) |
| JEMIMA | an elastic-sided boot | from the female name Jemima |
| JEREMIAD | a speech of bitter lament or righteous prophecy of doom | Jeremiah, pessimistic Old Testament prophet, died ~585 B.C. |
| JEROBOAM | a large bottle = four bottles of champagne | Jeroboam, king of Israel, died ~907 BC |
| JESUS | a paper-size | Jesus, founder of Christianity |
| JEZEBEL | a evil and scheming woman | Jezebel, a wicked woman in the bible (I and II Kings) |
| JOE | Australian slang: a policeman | Charles Joseph La Trobe, 1801-75, fanatical and petty lawman, Lt. Gov. of Victoria in 1851 |
| JOANNES JOHANNES | a gold coin of John V of Portugal | Johannes, from Joannes, from Gr Ioannes, John |
| JOLIOTIUM | a former name for the element dubnium | After Irene and Frederick Joliot-Curie, physicists |
| JORAM JORUM | a large drinking bowl | after Jorum who brought vessels of sivler, gold or brass to King David (Samuel II) |
| JOULE | a unit of energy | James Prescott Joule, Brit physicist (1818—1889) |
| JOVIAL | good-humoured | Jupiter, Roman god |
| JUDAS | a one-way peep-hole in a door | Judas Iscariot, biblical traitor |
| JUGGERNAUT | a massive inexorable force that crushes everything in its path | Jaggernaut, a title of Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu) |
| JULIENNE | a clear soup, with shredded vegetables; any foodstuff which has been shredded; (verb) to shred or cut into thin strips | French personal name |
| JUMBO | an elephant | Jumbo, name of the London Zoo's huge elephant, sold in 1882 (the word is from the elephant's name, not vice versa). The name may come from Swahili jumbe = chief |
| KALMIA | any shrub of the N American Kalmia genus of evergreen shrubs of the heath family | Peter Kalm (1715—79), pupil of Linnaeus |
| KELVIN | the SI unit of temperature | William Thompson, First Baron Kelvin, Brit physicist (1824—1907) |
| KENNETT | (Australian slang) to spoil ruthlessly | Jeff Kennett, a former premier of the state of Victoria |
| KENTIA | a name formerly applied to many pinnate varieties of palm, but now only to the Howea feather palm | W Kent (died in 1820s), Dutch botanist |
| KERRIA | a deciduous yellow-flowering shrub | William Kerr, late 18c-early 19c English gardener |
| KEWPIE | a kind of doll | named for the god Cupid by its creator, commercial illustrator Rose O'Neill (1874—1944) |
| KIR | a blackcurrant drink | Canon Felix Kir (1876-1968), mayor of Dijon, who is said to have invented the drink |
| KIESERITE | a mineral, hydrated magnesium sulphate, a source of Epsom salts | DG Kieser (1779—1862), German scientist |
| KLAXON | a mechanical horn with a loud rasping sound, of a kind used on early motor vehicles; any electric horn; (verb) to sound a klaxon | name of the manufacturer |
| KLIEG | as in klieg light, an intense carbon-arc light used for illumination in producing films. | brothers John H. Kliegl (1869—1959) and Anton Tiberius Kliegl (1872—1927), German-born Am lighting experts |
| KNICKERBOCKER | in pl. loose breeches gathered in at the knee | from historian Deidrich Knickerbocker, Washington Irving's pseudonym in his humorous History of New York |
| KNIPHOFIA | any plant of the African Kniphofia genus of the lily family, otherwise called Tritoma, the red-hot poker | named after JH Kniphof (1704—65), German botanist |
| KOCHIA | a plant of the goosefoot family whose foliage turns dark red in late summer | WDJ Koch (1771—1849), German botanist |
| KRAMERIA | the shrub rhatany, a S American plant with thick roots from which an astringent is prepared; the astringent itself | JGH and WH Kramer, 18c German botanists |
| KUNZITE | a lilac-coloured variety of spodumene, used as a gemstone | GF Kunz (1856—1932), US gemologist |
| KURCHATOVIUM | a former name for rutherfordium | IV Kurchatov (1903—60), Russian physicist |
| LABANOTATION | a method of writing down the movements, etc., of ballet diagrammatically. | from choreographer Rudolph Laban (1879-1958) who devised it. |
| LALIQUE | ornamental glassware, esp with bas-relief decoration of figures, flowers, etc | René Lalique (died 1945), French designer of jewellery and glassware |
| LAMBERT | a unit of brightness, one lumen per square centimetre | JH Lambert (1728—77), German scientist |
| LAMINGTON | a small cakes, considered one of Australia's national foods. | Lord Lamington, Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie (c. 1860—1940), who was governor of Queensland 1896—1901. |
| LANGBEINITE | a double sulfate of potassium and magnesium, used in the fertiliser industry | A. Langbein, 19th century German chemist |
| LANGLEY | a unit of solar radiation | Samuel Pierpoint Langley, Amer astronomer (1834—1906) |
| LATIMERIA | a fish of the coelacanth family | Marjorie E.D.Courtenay Latimer (1907—2004), director of the East London Museum (South Africa) at the time of the fish's discovery |
| LAVALIERE | a pendant worn on a chain around the neck | Françoise Louise de la Baume Le Blanc (1644—1710), Duchesse de La Vallière, the lover of Louis XIV of France |
| LAVATERA | any plant of the genus Lavatera of herbs and shrubs with large pink, white or purple mallow-like flowers | the brothers Lavater, 17c and 18c Swiss physicians and naturalists |
| LAWRENCIUM | an artificially produced radioactive transuranic element | Ernest O. Lawrence (1901—58), American physicist |
| LEISHMANIA | any protozoan of the genus Leishmania | named after Sir William Leishman (1865—1926), who discovered the cause of kala-azar |
| LEISLER | a small black bat | 19c zoologist TP Leisler |
| LEMPIRA | the standard monetary unit of Honduras | Lempira, a department of Honduras named after a native chief |
| LEOTARD | a skintight garment worn by dancers, acrobats, etc | Jules Leotard, French aerialist (1830—1870) |
| LESPEDEZA | a perennial herb with pink or white flowers, of the genus Lespedeza | V.M.CESPEDEZ, a governor of East Florida around 1785 |
| LEVIS | heavy, close-fitting denim, etc trousers, reinforced at points of strain with copper rivets | Levi Strauss, the original manufacturer |
| LEWISIA | a perennial herb with pink or white flowers, of the genus Lewisia | American explorer Meriwether Lewis (1774—1809 |
| LEWISITE | a poison gas developed for war use | Winford Lee Lewis, Am chemist (1878—1943) |
| LINDANE | a powerful insecticide | T. van der Linden, 20th century Dutch chemist |
| LISTERIA | a bacterium frequently found in certain foods (esp chicken, soft cheeses, etc), which if not killed in cooking can affect the central nervous system | Lord Joseph Lister (1827—1912), English surgeon |
| LOBELIA | a plant of the genus, including garden plants with red, white, blue, purple or yellow flowers | after the botanist Matthias de Lobel (1538—1616) |
| LOGANBERRY | a type of blackberry/raspberry cross | James H. Logan (1841-1928), Am lawyer develped it, 1881 |
| LOGANIA | any plant of the Logania genus of Australian plants related to the gentians | after James Logan (1674—1751), botanist, scholar and statesman |
| LONICERA | the honeysuckle, a shrub of the Lonicera genus | A Lonicerus (died 1586), German botanist |
| LOTHARIO | a man whose chief interest is seducing women | Lothario, seducer in Nicholas Rowe's play The Fair Penitent (1703) |
| LOOYENWORK | therapy of the body tissues aimed at releasing muscle fibre adhesions and easing physical and emotional tensions | Ted Looyen, who introduced it in 1985 |
| LUSH | a drunk | one theory cites a drinking club known as City of Lushington after Dr Thomas Lushington (1590-1661), British chaplain |
| LUTZ | a kind of jump in figure skating | Alois Lutz, Austrian figure skater (1898—1918). |
| LYNCH | to judge and put to death without the usual forms of law | thought to be after Captain William Lynch (1742—1820) of Virginia who set up and presided over tribunals outside the regular law |
| MACADAM | a common type of paving of roads | John Loudon Macadam, British engineer died 1836 |
| MACADAMIA | a kind of nut | John Macadam, Australian chemist died 1865 |
| MACH | a number indicating the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium | Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher (1838—1916) |
| MACHIAVELLIAN | (someone) characterised by ruthless political cunning | Niccolo Machiavelli, Italian statesman (1469—1527) |
| MACINTOSH MACKINTOSH | a kind of waterproof coat | Charles Macintosh, Sc chemist & inventor (1766—1843) |
| MACONOCHIE | tinned meat and vegetable stew; any tinned food | packer's name |
| MADELEINE | a small, plain sponge cake, often baked in the shape of a shell | probably named after Madeleine Paulmier, 19c French pastry cook |
| MAGDALENE | a reformed prostitute; a reformatory for prostitutes | Mary Magdalene in the bible |
| MAGNOLIA | a flowering shrub | Pierre Magnol, Fr botanist (1638—1715) |
| MAHONIA | a plant of the pinnate-leaved Mahonia genus (or section of Berberis) of the barberry family | Bernard McMahon (died 1816), Irish-American gardener and botanist |
| MALAPROP MALAPROPISM | a humorous misuse of a word sounding like the one intended | Mrs. Malaprop, character in R. B. Sheridan's comedy The Rivals, noted for her misuse of words |
| MANSARD | a roof having its angle divided to slope more steeply in the lower part than in the upper | François Mansard or Mansart (1598—1666), French architect |
| MARANTA | the arrowroot genus of monocotyledons | Bartolommeo Maranta, 16c Italian herbalist |
| MARCEL | a deep soft wave made in the hair by the use of a heated curling iron | Marcel Grateau, Fr hairdresser (1852—1936) |
| MARCHANTIA | a liverwort of the Marchantia genus, with a flat, lobed and branched thallus, growing in damp places | Nicolas Marchant (died 1678), French botanist |
| MARGARITA | a kind of cocktail | Dallas socialite Margarita Samas claimed to have invented it in 1948 for one of her Acapulco parties. |
| MARIALITE | a variety of scapolite rich in sodium, chlorine, and silica, poor in calcium | Maria Rose vom Rath, mineralogist's wife |
| MARPLOT | one whose meddling ruins the plans of others | after Marplot, character in The Busy Body, play by Susannah Centlivre (1669—1723) |
| MARPRELATE | to inveigh | after Martin Marprelate, the name assumed by the author of certain anti-episcopal tracts, 1588-9. |
| MARROWSKY | a spoonerism; (verb) to utter a spoonerism | said to be from the name of a Polish count |
| MARTIAL | warlike | Mars, Roman god of war |
| MARTINET | a strict disciplinarian; also, a demander of absolute adherence to forms and rules | Jean Martinet, Fr army officer died 1672 |
| MASONITE | a kind of dark brown hardboard | William HMason, US inventor |
| MASOCHISM | the driving of sexual gratification from the suffering of pain | Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian novelist (1836—1895) |
| MATILDA | a swag | from the female personal name |
| MAUDLIN | tearfully sentimental | Mary Magdalene, often depicted as a weeping, penitent sinner |
| MAUSOLEUM | a monumental tomb | Mausolus, Persian satrap of Caria (died ~353 BC), whose wife commissioned a huge tomb for him |
| MAVERICK | an unbranded steer | Samuel A. Maverick, 1803-1870, Texan cattleman who did not brand his calves |
| MAXIMITE | a picric-acid high explosive used as a bursting charge for projectiles | Hudson Maxim, American inventor |
| MAXWELL | a unit of magnetic flux | James Clerk Maxwell, Sc physicist (1831—1879) |
| MAZARINE | a rich blue or reddish-blue colour | Cardinal Mazarin, prime minister of France, 1643—1661 |
| MAZARINADE | a satirical attack on Cardinal Mazarin | Cardinal Mazarin, prime minister of France, 1643—1661 |
| MEDUSA | the tentacled stage in the life cycle of a jellyfish. | Medusa of Gk myth, one of the three Gorgons with snakes for hair |
| MEITNERIUM | an artificially produced radioactive transuranic element | Lise Meitner, a physicist |
| MENDELEVIUM | an artificially produced radioactive transuranic element | Dmitr Mendeleev |
| MENTOR | a trusted counselor or guide | Greek Mentor, whom Odysseus entrusted with educating his son |
| MERCERISE MERCERIZE | to treat (cotton fabric or thread) under tension with caustic soda, so as to cause swelling and increase the strength and dye absorption | John Mercer (1791—1866), inventor of the process |
| MERCURY | an element | Mercury, Roman messenger god |
| MESMERISE MESMERIZE | to hypnotise | Franz Mesmer, Austrian physician (1734—1815) |
| MHO | unit of electrical resistance | Georg Simon Ohm, Ger physicist (1789—1854) |
| MICAWBER | one who is poor but lives in optimistic expectation of better fortune | Wilkins Micawber, character in Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield |
| MICKEY | to drug someone's drink | Mickey Finn, a Chicago saloon owner who drugged his customers' drinks in order to rob them |
| MILLERITE | a mineral, nickel sulfide | William H. Miller, b. 1880, English mineralogist |
| MILQUETOAST | a meek, timid, unassertive person | Caspar Milquetoast, a comic-strip character created by Harold Tucker Webster (1885—1952) |
| MILTONIA | a plant of the Miltonia genus of tropical American orchids with brightly-coloured flowers | Charles Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton (1786—1857), English statesman and horticulturalist |
| MIRANDIZE | in the USA, to inform an accused person of their rights | from court case Miranda v. Arizona |
| MIREPOIX | a carrot and onion mixture used for sauces and garnishes | the Duc de Lévis-Mirepoix, 18th-century marshal of France and one of Louis XV's ambassadors. |
| MITHRIDATE | an antidote to poison | Mithridates, king of Pontus (reigned c.120—63BC), who was said to have acquired immunity to poisons by taking gradually increased doses of it |
| MOLOCH | a spiny Australina lizard (Labiatae) family | Moloch, a Semitic god to whom children were sacrificed |
| MOMUS | a satirist, a critic: MOMI or MOMUSES | Momus, the Greek god of ridicule |
| MONARDA | a plant of the Monarda genus of N American aromatic herbs of the mint family | N. Monardes (died 1588), Spanish botanist |
| MONTBRETIA | a plant of the Montbretia genus of S African iridaceous plants | Coquebert de Montbret (1780—1801), French botanist |
| MONTEITH | a large 17c or 18c bowl, usu of silver, fluted and scalloped, for cooling punch-glasses | Monteith, the Glasgow manufacturers |
| MONTGOLFIER | a hot-air balloon | Fr Brothers Jacques Étienne (1745—99) and Joseph Michel (1740—1810) Montgolfier, aeronauts who invented the first practical balloon 1783 |
| MONTICELLITE | an orthorhombic calcium-magnesium silicate | Teodoro Monticelli (1759—1845), Italian mineralogist |
| MORNAY | a cheese sauce | diplomat and writer Philippe de Mornay (1549—1623), a member of Henri IV's court. |
| MORGAN | a unit of distance between genes on a chromosome | Thomas Hunt Morgan, 1866-1945, US biologist |
| MORGANITE | a pink or rose-coloured variety of beryl, obtained chiefly from California and Madagascar, used as a gemstone | J Pierpont Morgan (1837—1913), US financier |
| MORPHINE | a drug | Morpheus, Roman god of dreams |
| MULES | to carry out the Mules operation on a sheep | J.H.W. Mules, an Australian grazier who invented the operation |
| MUNCHKIN | a person who is notably small and often endearing | Munchkins, diminutive creatures in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum |
| MURPHY | a potato | from the common Irish surname |
| MYRMIDON | a loyal follower who executes orders unquestioningly | Myrmidons, warriors accompanying king Achilles in Trojan War |
| NAPOLEON | a gold coin | Napoleon 1, French emperor |
| NAPOLEONITE | a mineral, a kind of diorite | Napoleon 1, French emperor |
| NARCISSISM NARCISSIST | excessive love or admiration of oneself | Narcissus, a youth in Gk legend who pined away for love of his own reflection in a pool of water |
| NEBUCHADNEZZAR | a large bottle = twenty bottles of champagne | Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (~630 -~561 BC) |
| NELLIE NELLY | a weak or foolish person; an effeminate man | from the female personal name |
| NEGUS | a drink of port or sherry mixed with hot water, sweetened and spiced | said to be from Colonel Negus (died 1732), its first maker |
| NEMESIS | one who inflicts retribution or vengeance | Nemesis, the Gk goddess of retributive justice |
| NEPER | a unit for expressing the ratio of two currents or voltages | JohnNapier, Scottish mathematician (1550-1617) |
| NERD NURD | a clumsy, foolish, socially inept person | perhaps after a character invented by Dr Seuss (1904-1991), US children's author |
| NEROLI | an oil distilled from orange flowers | said to be named from its discoverer, an Italian princess |
| NESSELRODE | a rich frozen pudding made of chestnuts, eggs, cream etc | from Count Karl Robert Nesselrode, Russian diplomat, whose chef invented the dish. |
| NESTOR | a kind of parrot | Greek Nestor, a aged king who serves as a counselor to the Greeks at Troy |
| NEWTON | a unit of force | Sir Isaac Newton |
| NICOL | a crystal of calcium carbonate cut and cemented in such a way as to transmit only the extraordinary ray, used for polarizing light | William Nicol (c.1768—1851), Scottish physicist |
| NICOTINE | a poisonous narcotic alkaloid of the pyrimidine series | Jean Nicot, Fr diplomat and scholar died 1600 |
| NIMROD | a mighty hunter | Nimrod, in Genesis in the bible, "a mighty hunter before the Lord" |
| NIOBIUM | a metallic element discovered in the mineral tantalite | Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, from the connection with tantalite |
| NOAH | (Aust. sl.) a shark | rhyming slang for Noah's ark |
| NOBELIUM | an artificially produced radioactive transuranic element | Alfred Nobel, Swedish industrialist; the element was first created at the Nobel Institute, Stockholm |
| NOSEAN NOSELITE | a cubic mineral, aluminium sodium silicate and sulphate | KW Nose (died 1835), German mineralogist |
| OBSIDIAN | a shiny and black stone, formed by cooling of lava | Obsius, a Roman, the supposed discoverer of obsidian. (Later, obsianus was misread as obsidianus.) |
| OCKER | an oafish uncultured Australian | a form of Oscar, esp after a character in a television programme |
| ODYSSEY | a long wandering usu. marked by many changes of fortune | Odysseus, Greek hero |
| OEDIPAL | of the Oedipus complex: a boy's unconscious sexual desire for his mother | Oedipus, mythical Gk who, abandoned at birth, later unwittingly killed his father and then married his mother |
| OERSTED | the CGS unit of magnetic field strength | HC Oersted (1777—1851), Danish physicist |
| OHM OHMIC | unit of electrical resistance | Georg Simon Ohm, Ger physicist (1789—1854) |
| OLLIE | a manoeuvre in skateboarding | Alan Ollie Geltan |
| ONANISM | masturbation | Onan, biblical character, Gen. 38:9 |
| ORPHARION ORPHOREON | a large lute-like instrument with six to nine pairs of metal strings | Orpheus and Arion, mythical musicians |
| ORPHIC | mystic, oracular | Orpheus, a minstrel in Greek myth |
| ORRERY | a mechanical model of the solar system | Charles Boyle, Fourth Earl of Orrery (1676—1731), for whom one was made. |
| OSCAR | (Aust. sl) cash | rhyming slang for Oscar Asche (1871—1936), Australian actor |
| OTTOMAN | a low stuffed seat | Othman, founder of the Turkish empire |
| PAEAN | a song of thanksgiving | from Paian, physician ot the Greek gods |
| PAILLARD | a slice of meat pounded thin and grilled | from Paillard, a 19th century French restaurateur |
| PALLADIUM | a silvery-white metallic element | Pallas Athene, Greek goddess |
| PANDAR PANDER | a procurer | Pandarus, procurer for Cressida and Troilus in med. romance |
| PANIC | a sudden attack of fear | Pan, Gk god of woods and shepherds, credited with causing the Persians to panic at the battle of Marathon |
| PANTALEON | a very large dulcimer | Pantaleon Hebenstreit, its inventor c. 1700 |
| PAPARAZZO | a photographer who specializes in spying on or harassing famous people in order to obtain photographs of them in unguarded moments, etc | from the surname of a photographer in the film La Dolce Vita (1960) by Federico Fellini |
| PASCAL | pressure | Blaise Pascal, Fr mathematician, philosopher inventor (1623—1662) |
| PASQUINADE | (noun or verb): satire or lampoon, esp. one that ridicules a specific person | Pasquino, nickname of a statue in Rome on which lampoons were posted |
| PASTEURISE PASTEURIZE | to sterilise milk | Louis Pasteur, microbiologist 1822 - 1895 |
| PAULOWNIA | any tree of the Chinese and Japanese genus Paulownia, of the figwort family, with showy flowers | Russian princess Anna Pavlovna (1795—1865) |
| PAVLOVA | a type of sweet dish consisting of a meringue base topped with whipped cream and fruit | Anna Pavlova(1881—1931), famous Russian ballerina. |
| PEAVEY | a lumberman's spiked and hooked lever | Joseph Peavey, its 19c inventor |
| PEEL | in croquet, to cause another player's ball to go through the next hoop | Walter Peel (fl 1868), British croquet player |
| PEELER | a policeman | Sir Robert Peel |
| PEGASUS | a member of a genus of small fishes superficially like sea-horses | Pegasus, in Greek myth the winged horse that sprang from Medusa's blood |
| PELHAM | on a horse's bridle, a type of bit, a combination of the curb and snaffle designs | perhaps from the name Pelham |
| PELORUS | a kind of compass from which bearings can be taken | perhaps from Pelorus, Hannibal's pilot |
| PENELOPIZE | to procrastinate | Penelope, wife of Odyssseus, who kept putting off her suitors |
| PEREIRA | a S American apocynaceous tree, the bark of which is used medicinally | Jonathan Pereira (1804—53), English pharmacologist |
| PEROVSKITE | a mineral form of calcium | Count Lev Alekseevich Perovski (1792—1856), Russian statesman |
| PETERSHAM | a heavy corded ribbon used for belts, hatbands, etc | Lord Petersham (1790—1851), English army officer |
| PETRI | as in petri dish, a shallow glass dish with an overlapping cover used for cultures of bacteria. | JR Petri, (1852—1922), German bacteriologist |
| PHAETON | a touring car | Greek myth of Phaëthon, a son of the sun god, killed while trying to drive his father's chariot across the sky. |
| PHILANDER | to carry on a love affair, without serious intentions (said of a male) | Philander, popular name for a lover in stories, drama, and poetry |
| PHILIPPIC | a discourse or declamation full of acrimonious invective | from the speeches of Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedon. |
| PHILLIPSITE | a zeolite, hydrated silicate of potassium, calcium, and aluminium | W Phillips (1775—1828), English mineralogist |
| PHILISTINE | a person of material outlook, usu indifferent or hostile to culture | Philistines, in ancient times one of the inhabitants of south-west Palestine, enemies of the Israelites; |
| PHILOMEL PHILOMELA | a nightingale | from Philomela, daughter of Pandion, changed into a nightingale (some say a swallow) |
| PINCHBECK | an alloy used imitate gold in jewelry; also, (noun & adj.) cheap imitation | Christopher Pinchbeck, Eng watchmaker (1670?—1732) |
| PINKERTON | a private detective | Allan Pinkerton (1819—84), Scottish-born American detective |
| >PITOT | A tube used to measure the pressure of a fluid stream | Henri Pitot, a French scientist, who proposed the use of the Pitot tube in 1732. |
| PLATONIC | of a relationship marked by the absence of romance or sex | Plato, Gk philosopher (429 —~347 BC) |
| PLIMSOLL | a line on a ship, indicating how high it may be loaded | Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898), Br shipping reformer |
| PLUMERIA | a flowering shrub, aka FRANGIPANI | Charles Plumier, b. 1704, French botanist |
| PLUTONIC | formed under conditions of subterranean heat | Pluto, Roman god of the Underworld |
| POINCIANA | a tree of the tropical genus Poinciana | De Poinci, a French W. Indian governor |
| POINSETTIA | a kind of flower | Joel Roberts Poinsett, American diplomat (1779—1851) |
| POISE | a unit of dynamic viscosity | Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, Fr physician and physiologist (1799—1869) |
| POLLYANNA | a person of irrepressible optimism who tends to find good in everything | Pollyanna, heroine of the novel Pollyanna, by Am author Eleanor Porter |
| POMPADOUR | a hairstyle where the hair at the front is brushed up into a mound or a roll, above the forehead | Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1721—1764), the lover of Louis XV of France |
| POOTER | a suction bottle for collecting insects | apparently after F. W. Poos, Amer. entomologist (1891—1987) |
| POWELLISE POWELLIZE | to season and preserve (timber) by boiling in a saccharine solution | W Powell, the inventor of the process |
| POWELLITE | a mineral, calcium molybdate | John Wesley Powell (1834—1902), American geologist, etc |
| PRALINE PRAWLIN | an almond or nut kernel with a brown coating of sugar, or a similar confection made with crushed nuts | Marshal Duplessis-Praslin, whose cook invented it |
| PREHNITE | a zeolite-like mineral, an acid calcium aluminium silicate | Colonel von Prehn (1733—85), who brought it from South Africa |
| PROCRUSTEAN | producing strict conformity by ruthless or arbitrary means | Procrustes, mythical robber of Attica who seized travelers, tied them to his bed, and to make them fit either stretched their limbs or lopped of their legs |
| PROTEAN | readily assuming different shapes or roles | Proteus, Gk sea-god able to assume various shapes |
| PROUSTITE | a red silver ore, sulphide of arsenic and silver, also known as ruby silver ore | JL Proust (1754—1826), French chemist |
| PSYCHE PSYCHOLOGY | soul, mind; the study of mind | Psyche, a young woman in Gk myth, beloved of Eros; subsequently became the personification of the soul |
| PRUSIK | a type of rope sling used in climbing | Karl Prusik (1895—1961), Austrian climber |
| PULLMAN | a railroad parlour car or sleeping car | George M. Pullman, American industrialist (1831—1897) |
| PURDONIUM | a kind of coal-scuttle | a Mr Purdon |
| PUSCHKINIA | any plant of the genus Puschkinia, spring-flowering bulbous plants native to western Asia | A. Mussin-Puschkin (1760—1805), Russian scientist |
| PUSSYFOOT | a prohibitionist | from Pussyfoot, nickname of William E Johnson (1862-1945), a US revenue officer noted for his stealthy ways and his prohibitionist campaigns |
| PYRRHIC | an ancient Greek war dance | said to be from Pyrrichos, its inventor |
| PYTHON | a large constricting snake | probably from Python, a mythical serpent killed by Apollo |
| QUASSIA | a medicine against intestinal worms, once very popular in Europe; still in use today | Graman Quassi, captured into slavery from Africa, obtained freedom, and ~1730 discovered the curative power of the bark from which quassia is made |
| QUISLING | a traitor who collaborates by serving in the invader's puppet government | Vidkun Quisling(1887 — 1945), Norwegian traitor |
| QUIXOTE | an extravagantly romantic and chivalrous person | Don Quixote in the romance by Cervantes |
| QUIXOTIC | extravagantly romantic in ideals or chivalrous in action | Don Quixote in the romance by Cervantes |
| RAFFLESIA | any of various stemless leafless parasitic plants, native to Java and Sumatra | Sir Stamford Raffles, (1781-1826), British governor in Sumatra (1818) |
| RAGAMUFFIN | an urchin | Ragamoffyn, demon in Piers Plowman (1393, attrib. William Langland) |
| RAGLAN | a particular style of sleeves for an overcoat | Lord Raglan, 1788-1855, British field marshal |
| RASTAFARI, RASTAFARIAN | a member of a W. Indian cult which rejects western ideas and regards the Emperor Haile Selassie as divine | Ras Tafari, the precoronation name of Haile Selassie |
| RAUWOLFIA | a tropical genus of apocynaceous trees and shrubs, of which Rauwolfia serpentina and other species yield valuable drugs | Leonhard Rauwolf (died 1596), German botanist |
| RECAMIER | a backless couch | Madame de Recamier, a French lady |
| REDIA | a form in the life cycle of the trematodes: REDIAE or REDIAS | Francesco Redi (died prob. 1698), Italian naturalist |
| REHOBOAM | a large bottle = six bottles of champagne | Rehoboam, king of Israel, died ~913 BC |
| RENSSELAERITE | a kind of firm-textured talc, used for carved or lathe-turned ornaments | Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764—1839), N American statesman |
| RHADAMANTHINE | rigorously just and severe | Rhadamanthus, a judge of the lower world |
| RICKETTSIA | a genus of micro-organisms found in lice and ticks | Howard Taylor Ricketts (1871—1910), US pathologist |
| RIEBECKITE | a monoclinic amphibole, silicate of sodium and iron | Emil Riebeck (1853—85), German traveller |
| RITZ, RITZY | posh | César Ritz (1850—1918), Swiss hotelier |
| RHODOMONTADE RODOMONTADE | vain boasting or bluster | Rodomonte, character in Orlando Innamorato by Matteo M. Boiardo |
| ROBINIA | any plant of the locust or false acacia genus | Jean Robin (1550—1629), Parisian gardener who introduced it to cultivation |
| RODGERSIA | any of a group of flowering perennial herbs native to E Asia, with large divided leaves and small, white panicled flowers | John Rodgers (1812-1882), US admiral |
| ROENTGEN | a unit of X-ray or gamma ray radiation exposure | Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, Ger physicist (1845—1923) |
| ROGALLO | a flexible fabric delta wing, orig designed as a possible satellite retrieval vehicle but actually developed in the 1960s as the first successful hang-glider | Francis M. Rogallo, (1912-2009), the US engineer who designed it |
| ROMEO | a swain, a beau | Romeo, the hero of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet |
| ROMNEYA | a plant of the Romneya genus of papaveraceous shrubs, with large white poppy-like flowers with yellow centres | Thomas Romney Robinson (1792—1882), British astronomer and physicist |
| ROORBACK | a false or slanderous story used for political advantage | Baron von Roorback, pen-name of author of Roorback's Tour Through the Western and Southern States, used in 1844 US presidential campaign |
| ROQUELAURE | a knee-length cloak with bright silk lining and fur trim, worn by 18c European men | Antoine Gaston Jean Baptiste, Duc de Roquelaure (1656—1738), Fr marshal |
| RUDBECKIA | any of the N American composite plants of the genus Rudbeckia, of the sunflower subfamily | Olaf Rudbeck (1660—1740), Swedish botanist |
| RUELLIA | any plant of the Ruellia genus of the acanthus family | Jean Ruel (1479—1537), French botanist |
| RUTHERFORD | a unit of the rate of radioactive decay | Baron Rutherford, New Zealand-born British physicist(1871—1937) |
| RUTHERFORDIUM | An artificially produced radioactive transuranic element | Baron Rutherford, New Zealand-born British physicist(1871—1937) |
| SABIN | a unit of acoustic absorption | Wallace Clement Ware Sabine (1868—1919), American physicist |
| SADISM | the derivation of sexual pleasure from acts of cruelty | Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade ("the Marquis de Sade"), French Count and writer (1740—1814) |
| SAINTPAULIA | a tropical African flowering plant of the genus Saintpaulia, commonly grown as a pot plant, the African violet | Baron Walter von Saint Paul (1860—1910), who discovered it |
| SALCHOW | an ice-skating leap with turns from inner backward edge of one skate to outer backward edge of other | from Ulrich Salchow, a Swedish figure-skater. |
| SALMANAZAR | a large bottle = twelve bottles of champagne | Shalmaneser, a king of Assyria in the Bible |
| SALMONELLA | a type of bacteria, often toxic | Daniel Elmer Salmon, Amer pathologist (1850—1914) |
| SAMARIUM | a metallic element observed spectroscopically in SAMARSKITE | from Colonel Samarski, 19c Russian engineer |
| SAMARSKITE | a black mineral containing uranium | from Colonel Samarski, 19c Russian engineer |
| SANDWICH | any sort of food between two slices of bread | said to be named after the fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718—92), who ate a snack of this kind in order not to have to leave the gaming-table |
| SAPPHIC | a verse form | Sappho, ancient Gk poetess |
| SARRACENIA | an American insectivorous flowering plant of the genus Sarracenia, with leaves modified to form pitchers for trapping insects | Dr Sarrazin, 17c botanist, who sent them to Europe from Quebec |
| SARRUSAPHONE | a double-reed woodwind instrument made of brass or silver | French bandmaster Pierre Auguste Sarrus (1813-1876) |
| SAUSSURITE | a dull opaque mass of zoisite, albite, etc, formed by the alteration of feldspar | HB de Saussure (1740—99), Swiss geologist |
| SAVARIN | a ring-shaped cake made with yeast, containing nuts, fruit, etc, and often flavoured with rum | Antheline Brillat-Savarin (died 1826), French politician and gourmet |
| SAXHORN SAXOPHONE SAXTUBA | varieties of musical instrument | Adolphe Sax (1814—1894), Belg. musical instrument designer, inventor of the saxophone |
| SCARAMOUCH SCARAMOUCHE | a cowardly buffoon | Scaramuccia, a stock character in the Italian commedia dell'arte, characterized by boastfulness and cowardliness |
| SCHEELITE | a greenish or brownish mineral, calcium tungstate, crystallizing in the tetragonal system, an important source of tungsten | KW Scheele (1742—86), Swedish chemist, who investigated it |
| SCHLEMIHL SCHLEMIEL SHLEMIEL SHLEMIEHL. | a clumsy person, a pitiful bungler, fool | prob from Shelumiel, a biblical general notorious for losing battles, with spelling influenced by A von Chamisso's character Peter Schlemihl (1814) |
| SCOOBY | a clue, as in 'I haven't a SCOOBY' | rhyming slang from SCOOBY Doo, a cartoon character |
| SCOPOLAMINE | an alkaloid with sedative properties, used eg to prevent muscle spasm and travel sickness and as a premedication before anaesthesia | named after Scopoli (1723—88), Italian naturalist, plus amine |
| SEABORGIUM | an artificially produced radioactive transuranic element | Glenn T, Seaborg (1912—99), US physicist |
| SEQUOIA | a huge species of coniferous tree, that may reach more than 300 feet tall | Sequoya, a Cherokee Indian who created a notation for writing the Cherokee language (1770—1843) |
| SHADRACH | a mass of iron on which the operation of smelting has failed of its intended effect | from Shadrach, one of the three Hebrews who came forth unharmed from the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. (See Dan. iii. 26, 27.) |
| SHEILA | a young girl or a woman | from the female proper name |
| SHERARDIZE | to coat with zinc by heating with zinc-dust in a vacuum | Sherard Cowper-Coles (1867—1936), English chemist |
| SHERLOCK | a detective | Sherlock Holmes,a fictional detective invented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
| SHIGELLA | a rod-shaped bacterium, which causes bacillary dysentery | K Shiga (1870—1957), the Japanese bacteriologist who discovered it |
| SHONEEN | an Irishman who imitates the ways and manners of the English | from Ir Seoinín, dimin of Seon John (a generic name for an Englishman) |
| SHORTIA | an American herb | Charles W. Short |
| SHRAPNEL | a shell filled with musketballs with a bursting charge, or any later improved version of this; | Henry S. Shrapnel (1761—1842), Brit artillery officer who developed it |
| SHUNAMITISM | rejuvenation of an older man by a younger woman | Abishag the Shunammite (Bible, 1 Kings 1.3) |
| SHYLOCK | a loan shark; (verb) to force (a person) to repay a debt, esp. with exorbitant interest | Shylock, Jewish usurer in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice |
| SIBYL | a female prophet | Sibylla Sibylla, name for any of several prophetesses consulted by ancient Greeks and Romans |
| SIDEBURNS | long side whiskers | General Ambrose Burnside, 1824-1881, US Civil War general |
| SIEMENS | a unit of electrical conductance | Ernst Werner von Siemens, Ger engineer (1816—1892) |
| SIEVERT | a derived SI unit, the unit of radiation dose equivalent | RM Sievert (1896—1966), Swedish physicist |
| SIKORSKY | a kind of helicopter | Igor Sikorsky |
| SILHOUETTE | a pictorial representation of an object or esp a person, in profile, | Étienne de Silhouette, Fr controller general of finances died 1767 |
| SILLIMANITE | a mineral, aluminium silicate in the form of orthorhombic crystals | Benjamin Silliman (1779—1864), US scientist |
| SIMONY | the buying or selling of a church office | Simon Magus, Samaritan sorcerer in Acts 8:9-24 |
| SINNINGIA | any Brazilian plant of the genus Sinningia, popularly known as gloxinia | W Sinning, German gardener |
| SIREN | a signalling or warning instrument | Sirens, female creatures in Gk myth, partly human, who lured mariners to destruction by their singing |
| SMITHSONITE | a white mineral, carbonate of zinc, occurring in calcareous rocks (also called calamine) | James Smithson (1765—1829), British chemist and mineralogist |
| SOLANDER | a protective box shaped like a book, to hold botanical specimens, maps, etc. | Daniel C. Solander, 18th c. Swedish botanist |
| SOLON | a wise and skilful lawgiver | Solon, Athenian lawgiver, 638?—559? BC |
| SONTAG | a woman's knitted cape, tied down round the waist | famous German singer Henriette Sontag (1806—54) |
| SOUBISE | an 18c cravat; a sauce made from, or a side dish of, puréed onions | French Marshal Prince de Soubise (1715—87)] |
| SOUSAPHONE | a large brass wind instrument, similar in range to the tuba, for marching bands. | John Philip Sousa, American bandmaster and composer, known as "the March King" (1854—1932) |
| SPENCER | a type of men's breasted; a type of women's jacket | George John Spencer, Second Earl Spencer (1758—1834) |
| SPERRYLITE | an arsenide of platinum, the only known compound of platinum occuring in nature | Frances L. Sperry, 19th century Canadian chemist |
| SPOONERISM | transposition of initial sounds of words (as in tons of soil for sons of toil) | William A. Spooner, Eng clergyman & educator died 1930 |
| STAKHANOVITE | (in the former Soviet Union) a worker who received recognition for his or her part in increasing the rate of production in a factory, etc. | AG Stakhanov (1906-1977), Russian miner |
| STANHOPE | a light open one-seated carriage. | it was first made for Fitzroy Stanhope (1787-1864 |
| STAPELIA | any succulent plant of the carrion-flower genus Stapelia, native to S Africa, having toothed, four-angled stems and large, star-shaped, blotched flowers that smell of carrion | JB van Stapel (died 1636), Dutch botanist |
| STENTORIAN | extremely loud | Stentor, a loud-voiced Greek herald in the Iliad |
| STEPHANITE | a brittle silver ore, composed of silver, sulphur, and antimony | Archduke Stephan (1817-67), Austrian mining director |
| STETSON | trademark for a broad-brimmed high-crowned felt hat | 1902, from John Batterson Stetson (1830—1906), US hat manufacturer |
| STIMPMETER | a device that measures the speed of a putting green by propelling a golf ball down a ramp at a standard initial velocity and measuring how far it travels | Edward Stimpson (died 1985), its US inventor |
| STOKES | the CGS unit of kinematic viscosity, equal to 10-4 square metres per second | Sir G Stokes (1819-1903), British physicist |
| STOKESIA | a perennial herb | Jonathan Stokes |
| STOVAINE | a local anaesthetic, a substitute for cocaine, used for spinal analgesia | from stove, Eng transl of Fr fourneau, after the name of E Fourneau (1872—1949), French pharmacologist, who first prepared it |
| STRASS | a paste for making false gems | Josef Strasser, 18c German jeweller, its inventor |
| STRELITZIA | a plant of the S African genus Strelitzia, of the banana family, with large showy flowers | from Queen Charlotte (1744—1818), wife of George III, of the house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
| STROGANOFF | of meat, cut thinly and cooked with onions | Count Pavel Aleksandrovich Stroganov, Russian diplomat. |
| SUCRE | the standard monetary unit of Ecuador (100 centavos) | Antonio José de Sucre (1795—1830), S American soldier-patriot |
| SURTARBRAND SURTURBRAND | a lignite found interbedded with lavas in Iceland | Surtr, a fire-giant in Norse myth |
| SVEDBERG | a unit of time used to measure sedimentation velocity | Theo Svedberg, Swedish chemist |
| SYPHILIS | a venereal disease | Syphilus, protagonist of Girolamo Fracastoro's (1478?—1553) poem "Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus" ('Syphilis, or the French Disease') |
| TAGETES | a garden flower | after Tagetes, an Etruscan god |
| TAGLIONI | an early-19c overcoat | after a family of Italian ballet dancers |
| TALBOTYPE | an archaic photographic process | William Henry Fox Talbot (1800—77) |
| TALMA | a loose cloak or cape | FJ Talma (1763—1826), the actor |
| TANTALIZE | to torment by presenting something desirable but keeping it out of reach; | Tantalus, king in Gk myth, who spends afterlife in a river up to his chin, under branches laden with fruit — but water and fruit withdraw whenever he tries to eat or drink |
| TANTALUS | a case in which alcohol decanters are visible but locked up | Tantalus, as above |
| TANTALUM | an acid-resistant metallic element | Tantalus, as above, from its inability to absorb water |
| TARMAC | to cover with tarmacadam | John Loudon Macadam |
| TARTUFE, TARTUFFE | a hypocrite, esp. one who affects religious piety | Tartuffe, hero of a play by the French playwright Moliere |
| TARZAN | a very strong agile person | Tarzan of the Apes, hero of series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| TAWDRY | showy, gaudy | St Audrey (i.e. Æthelthryth, daughter of Anna, king of E Anglia), who thought a tumour in her throat a punishment for having worn jewelled necklaces |
| TEDDY | a furry, stuffed toy bear. | Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, a famous hunter and President of USA (1901-1909) |
| TENNANTITE | a mineral composed of sulphur, arsenic and copper, usu with iron | Smithson Tennant (1761—1815), English chemist |
| TERMAGANT | a quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew | Termagaunt, a fictitious Muslim deity appearing in medieval morality play |
| TERPSICHOREAN | relating to dancing | Terpsichore, Gk muse of dancing |
| TESLA | a unit of magnetic flux density equal to one WEBER per square meter | Nikola Tesla, Serb William Thompson, -born Amer electrical engineer and physicist (1856—1943) |
| TETRAZZINI | noodles, mushrooms, almonds, in a cream sauce topped with cheese | from operatic soprano Luisa Tetrazzini, the "Florentine Nightingale" (1871—1941) |
| THALIAN | pertaining to comedy | Thalia, Gk muse of pastoral poetry and comedy |
| THENARDITE | an anhydrous form of sodium sulphate | Baron Louis-Jacques Thenard (1777—1857), French chemist |
| THERBLIG | a basic elements in a task or manual operation | Frank Gilbreth, US industrial engineer who originated time-and-motion-study. |
| THEREMIN | an electronic musical instrument played by moving the hands around two antennae to vary pitch and volume | Leon Theremin (1896—1993), its Russian inventor |
| THERSITICAL | scurrilous; foul-mouthed; grossly abusive | Thersites, a commoner who disagrees with leaders in Homer's Iliad |
| THESPIAN | an actor or actress (adj: related to drama) | Thespis, a Greek poet 6th cent BC, who reputedly originated drama |
| THORIUM | a radioactive metallic element | Thor, Norse god of thunder |
| THRASONIC THRASONICAL | bragging, boastful | Thraso, braggart soldier in the comedy Eunuchus by Terence |
| THUNBERGIA | any plant of the Thunbergia genus of evergreen climbing plants of the acanthus family | Carl Thunberg (1743—1828), Swedish botanist |
| TIEMANNITE | a kind of mineral, mercuric selenide. | Johann Carl Wilhelm Tiemann (1849- 1899), German scientist |
| TILLANDSIA | any plant of the mainly epiphytic tropical American genus Tillandsia of the pineapple family | Elias Tillands (died 1693), Finno-Swedish botanist |
| TIMOTHY | a kind of grass | Timothy Hanson, who promoted its cultivation in America about 1720 |
| TINTOOKIE | (Aust. sl.) a fawning or servile person | from Tintookies, marionettes that appeared on Australian televison in the 1960s |
| TITAN | anything gigantic | Titan, a Greek giant |
| TITANIUM | a strong, light and corrosion-resistant metallic element | Titan, a Greek giant |
| TITCH, TITCHY | very small | Little Tich, stage name and childhood nickname of Eng comedian Harry Relph (1867-1928). Relph was only 4'6" tall. |
| TITIAN | a brownish orange | Titian (1490?-1576), painter who often used that color |
| TONTINE | a pooled fund where the entire fund goes to the last-surviving participant | Lorenzo Tonti, Italian-born French banker (1635—1690?) |
| TORBERNITE | a bright-green radioactive hydrous phosphate of copper and uranium | Torbern Bergmann (1735—84), Swed chemist |
| TORR | a unit used in expressing very low pressure | Italian mathematician Evangelista Torricelli (1608—47) |
| TORTONI | a rich ice-cream flavoured with wine and containing chopped fruit | an Italian Tortoni; the dish is said to be one of his creations. |
| TRADESCANTIA | any plant of the American Tradescantia (spiderwort) genus | John Tradescant (c.1567—1637), English gardener, naturalist and traveller |
| TRILBY | a type of hat | Trilby O'Ferrall, protagonist in 1884 novel Trilby by George Du Maurier. The novel was a runaway success. A hat featured in its illustrations. |
| TROLAND | a unit of measurement of retinal response to light | L. T. Troland, US physicist and psychologist |
| TROOSTITE | a grayish mineral, a variety of willemite | Gerard Troost, died 1850, US geologist |
| TRUDGEN, TRUDGEON | a swimming stroke | John Trudgen, British swimmer (1852—1902). |
| TULSI | a kind of basil, sacred in Hindu belief | the Hindu goddess Tulsi |
| TUTANIA | a kind of Britannia metal | W. Tutin (c.1780), its maker or inventor |
| TYPHON | a whirlwind | Typhon, son of Typhoeus, later identified with him, father of dangerous winds |
| ULEXITE | a hydrous borate of lime and soda | George L. Ulex, 19th century German chemist |
| UVAROVITE | a green lime-chrome garnet | Count SS Uvarov (1785—1855), Russian minister of education |
| VALENTINE | a sweetheart | Saint Valentine, Christian martyr, c. 270 |
| VANADIUM | a silvery metallic element | named by a Swedish chemist Sefström from ON Vanadis, the goddess Freyja |
| VANDYKE | a trim, pointed style of beard | Sir Anthony Vandyke, Flem. portrait painter (1599—1641) |
| VARROA | an Asiatic mite parasitic on bees | Varro, a Latin writer on bees |
| VENEREAL | related to love esp. of disease | Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty |
| VENTURI | a device for measuring the flow of a liquid | Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746-1822), Italian physicist |
| VENUS | a genus of molluscs | Venus, the Roman god of love |
| VERNIER | a small auxiliary device to make fine adjustment in the main device | Pierre Vernier, Fr mathematician died 1637 |
| VERONICA | a bullfighting pass in which the cape passes slowly over the bull's face | St. Veronica, whose kerchief wiped the face of Christ |
| VICTORIA | a low light four-wheeled carriage | Victoria, queen of the United Kingdom (reigned 1837—1901) |
| VICTORINE | a fur tippet with long ends; a variety of peach | from the female name |
| VIVIANITE | ferrous phosphate, blue by oxidation, often found coating fossil fishes and bones | JG Vivian (1785—1855), English mineralogist, who first found it crystallized |
| VOLCANO | a centre of eruption | Vulcan, Roman god of fire |
| VULCANISE VULCANIZE | to treat (rubber, etc) with sulphur or sulphur compounds, etc to improve its strength | Vulcan, Roman god of fire |
| VOLT VOLTAIC | a unit of electric potential and electromotive force (voltage) | Count Alessandro Volta, Ital physicist 1745—1827) |
| WALDO | a mechanical gadget, esp a remote control device | after a character created by American writer Robert Heinlein (1907—88) |
| WARDIAN | denoting a kind of glass case for transporting delicate ferns and other such plants or for growing them in indoors | Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791—1868), the inventor |
| WATT | a unit of power | James Watt, Sc engineer and inventor (1736—1819) |
| WAVELLITE | a mineral, hydrated phosphate of aluminium | Dr William Wavel or Wavell (died 1829), who discovered the mineral near Barnstaple |
| WEBER | a unit of magnetic flux | Wilhelm Eduard Weber, Ger physicist (1804—1891) |
| WEIGELA WEIGELIA | a plant of a genus of deciduous shrubs with large showy pink, purplish or white flowers | CE von Weigel (1748—1831), German botanist |
| WERNERITE | a mineral, aka scapolite | Abraham Gottlieb Werner (1749—1817), German geologist |
| WELLINGTON | a leather boot with loose top, usually coming above the knee | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Brit general and statesman died 1852 |
| WELWITSCHIA | a S. African plant | F.M.J. Welwitsch (1807—1872), Portuguese botanist |
| WHEWELLITE | calcium oxalate | after William Whewell (1794—1866) |
| WHISKERANDO | a whiskered person | in allusion to Dom Ferolo Whiskerandos in Sheridan's 'Critic' (1794—1866) |
| WIMP WIMPY | weak and ineffectual | possibly from J. Wellington Wimpy in Popeye comic strip |
| WISTARIA WISTERIA | a flowering climbing plant | named in 1818 in memory of American anatomist Caspar Wistar (1761-1818) |
| WITHERITE | the chief source of barium compounds, barium carbonate | Dr W Withering (1741—99), who first discriminated it |
| WOLLASTONITE | a silicate of calcium, aka tabular spar | WH Wollaston (1766—1828), English scientist |
| WOODBURYTYPE | a photomechanical process in which an exposed and developed bichromated film is forced into a metal plate by great pressure, and so forms a matrix for subsequent printing: | from its inventor Woodbury |
| WOODSIA | a fern of the genus Woodsia (family Polypodiaceae) of cool or mountainous regions, with tufted rhizomes | James Woods (1776—1864), botanist |
| WULFENITE | a molybdate of lead, PbMoO4, occurring commonly as yellow crystals in veins with other lead ores | FX von Wulfen (1728—1805), Austrian mineralogist |
| WURTZITE | sulphide of zinc, ZnS | CA Wurtz (1817—84), French chemist |
| YAGI | denoting a type of highly directional television or radio astronomy aerial | Hidetsugu Yagi (1886-1976), Japanese electrical engineer |
| YAPP | a leather bookcover extending past the page edges | William Yapp, London bookseller |
| YARBOROUGH | cards: a bridge or whist hand (13 cards) with no card higher than a 9 | Charles Anderson Worsley, 2nd Earl of Yarborough, (1809—1897). He bet 1000:1 against dealing a "yarborough" hand. |
| YEGG | a burglar; orig. a safecracker | often linked to supposed John Yegg, safecracker |
| YERSINIA | a kind of bacterium | AEJ Yersin (1863—1943), French bacteriologist |
| ZANTEDESCHIA | a plant of the Zantedeschia genus of the arum family, including the calla lily | Giovanni Zantedeschi (1773—1846), Italian botanist |
| ZANY | a clown | Fr zani, from Ital zanni, the Venetian form of Gianni, Giovanni John, a name given to comic servant characters in the commedia dell'arte |
| ZAPATA | denoting a type of flowing moustache drooping down on each side of the mouth | Emilio Zapata (1879—1919), Mexican revolutionary, who wore a moustache of this shape |
| ZARATITE | a green amorphous mineral | G. Zarate, a 19th century Spaniard |
| ZEPHYR | a gentle breeze | Zephyrus, the west wind personified in myth |
| ZEPPELIN | a kind of airship | Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838—1917), Ger general who perfected its design |
| ZERK | a grease fitting | Oscar U. Zerk, American inventor |
| ZINNIA | a flower | JG Zinn, German botanist (1727—59) |
| ZOYSIA | a kind of perennial grass | Karl von Zois, b. 1800, German botanist |