dem·i·john  (d ĕm ē-j ŏn ′)
Share:
n. A large, narrow-necked glass or earthenware bottle, usually encased in wickerwork.
[Alteration (influenced by the name John) of earlier demijean, demijan, alteration (influenced by DEMI-) of French dame-Jeanne, demijohn, literally “lady Jane” : dame, lady; see DAME + Jeanne, feminine personal name equivalent to English Jane (the rounded shape of a bottle being likened to the figure of a woman; compare Middle French jane, bottle, from Jeanne).]  (click for a larger image) demijohn |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
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:
Indo-European Roots
Semitic Roots
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.
This website is best viewed in Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. Some characters in pronunciations and etymologies cannot be displayed properly in Internet Explorer.