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A state of the north-central United States. It was admitted as the 21st state in 1818. The area was explored by the French in the late 1600s, ceded by France to the British in 1763, and ceded by them to the newly formed United States in 1783. Springfield is the capital and Chicago the largest city.
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.