umbrella

Umbrella comes from Italian ombrella, meaning "parasol" or "sunshade," which traces back to Late Latin umbrella. That form was shaped by Latin umbra ("shadow, shade"), and ultimately descends from Latin umbella, built from umbra plus the diminutive suffix -la.

The word started as a diminutive of "shadow" — literally a "little shade" — and passed through Italian before English borrowed it, keeping its core sense of something held overhead for shelter.

Umbrella shares its root with umbra, the Latin word for shadow, which also gives English words describing shade and shadow directly.