Template:Etymology

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Takes groups of three parameters (triplets) that indicate a part of an etymology and produces formatted output. It is highly recommended that in-line etymologies be placed within parentheses, i.e. ({{etymology}}).

Usage

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext"> from language1 orthography1' meaning1

          ' language2  orthography2' meaning2
          ' and language3  orthography3' meaning3 ... '

</syntaxhighlight>

Between one and six triplets can be specified, each of which can have the following parameters (which can be left blank or, at the end of the list, omitted entirely):

• language: The ISO 639 code or name for the language. This might be omitted if the language is obvious (e.g. the same as the language of the previous part, or English).
• orthography: How the word or words are written in the original language. If the original language uses a non-Latin alphabet the orthography should be surrounded by two straight single quotation marks (vertical apostrophes) '' before and after to avoid automatic italicizing (see MOS:Ety), followed by a transliteration within parentheses. If a transliteration is not needed, the final set of single quotation marks must be followed by a character, such as a hair space ( ) or thin space (  or  ), to avoid text formatting problems.
• meaning: Concise English meaning of the word. This could be a link if appropriate.

Notes

• For each triplet, at least one of language and orthography must be specified (non-blank).
• If the original language uses a non-Latin alphabet (or no alphabet at all), the orthography should be followed by a transliteration within parentheses.
• This template may also be coded using the shortened form, {{ety}}.

Examples

Here is a wide selection of examples showing how one might use the {{etymology}} template, with various alternatives for some words. Invalid examples are also shown below.

Valid examples
Anniversary (from Latin anniversarius 'returning annually'; from annus 'year' and versus 'to turn') '''Anniversary''' ({{etymology|la|anniversarius|returning annually}}; {{etymology||annus|year||versus|to turn}})
Biology (from Ancient Greek βίος (bios) 'life' and λογία (logia) 'study of') '''Biology''' ({{etymology|grc|''βίος'' (bios)|life||''λογία'' (logia)|study of}})
Café (from French) '''Café''' ({{ety|fr}})
Dinosaur (from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinos) 'terrible, powerful, wondrous' and σαῦρος (sauros) 'lizard') '''Dinosaur''' ({{etymology|grc|''δεινός'' (deinos)|terrible, powerful, wondrous||''σαῦρος'' (sauros)|lizard}})
Eukaryote (/juːˈkærioʊt, -ət/ yoo-KARR-ee-oht, -⁠ət; from Ancient Greek ευ (eu) 'good' and κάρυον (karyon) 'nut, kernel') '''Eukaryote''' ({{IPAc-en|j|uː|ˈ|k|ær|i|oʊ|t|,_|-|ə|t}} {{respell|yoo|KARR|ee|oht|,_|-|ət}}; {{etymology|grc|''ευ'' (eu)|good||''κάρυον'' (karyon)|nut, kernel}})
Ngoja kidogo bush (from Swahili ngoja 'wait' kidogo 'a little' and bush) '''Ngoja kidogo bush''' ({{etymology|sw|ngoja|wait||kidogo|a little||[[Shrub|bush]]}})
Sesquipedalophobia (from Latin sesquipedalia verba 'words a foot-and-a-half long'; from sēsqui 'one and a half' pedālis 'foot' and Ancient Greek φόβος (phobos) 'fear') '''Sesquipedalophobia''' ({{etymology|la|sesquipedalia verba|words a foot-and-a-half long}}; {{etymology||sēsqui|one and a half||pedālis|foot|grc|''φόβος'' (phobos)|fear}})
Invalid examples
Etymology (from Greek ἔτυμον' 'true sense' and λογία' 'study of') '''Etymology''' ({{ety|gre|''ἔτυμον''|true sense||''λογία''|study of}}) Note: If the original language uses a non-Latin alphabet the orthography should be followed by a transliteration within parentheses.
Xylophone (from Ancient Greek ξύλον (xylon) 'wood' and φωνή (phone) sound) '''Xylophone''' ({{etymology|grc|''ξύλον'' (xylon)|wood|''φωνή'' (phone)|sound}}) Note: Parameters must be grouped into triplets.
Zeitgeist () '''Zeitgeist''' ({{etymology|||spirit of the time}}) Note: The language or orthography may be omitted, but not both.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Etymology in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Etymology

Takes groups of three parameters (triplets) that indicate a part of an etymology and produces formatted output

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Language 1	1	ISO 639 code or name for the language of the word or first root Example gre	String	suggested
Orthography 1	2	How the word or first root is written in the original language Example ''βίος'' (bios)	String	suggested
Meaning 1	3	Concise English meaning of the word or first root Example life	String	suggested
Language 2	4	ISO 639 code or name for the language of the second root	String	optional
Orthography 2	5	How the second root is written in the original language	String	optional
Meaning 2	6	Concise English meaning of the second root	String	optional
Language 3	7	ISO 639 code or name for the language of the third root	String	optional
Orthography 3	8	How the third root is written in the original language	String	optional
Meaning 3	9	Concise English meaning of the third root	String	optional
Language 4	10	ISO 639 code or name for the language of the fourth root	String	optional
Orthography 4	11	How the fourth root is written in the original language	String	optional
Meaning 4	12	Concise English meaning of the fourth root	String	optional
Language 5	13	ISO 639 code or name for the language of the fifth root	String	optional
Orthography 5	14	How the fifth root is written in the original language	String	optional
Meaning 5	15	Concise English meaning of the fifth root	String	optional
Language 6	16	ISO 639 code or name for the language of the sixth root	String	optional
Orthography 6	17	How the sixth root is written in the original language	String	optional
Meaning 6	18	Concise English meaning of the sixth root	String	optional

See also

• {{Etymology section}}
• {{Place name etymologies}}
• {{Missing|etymology}}

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