CHEQUE
The word 'cheque' referrs to the cloth divided in squares that covered a table on which accounts of revenue were reckoned with counters during the to 1300's. It's etymological origin is from the Anglo-French word 'escheker', meaning 'a chessboard'.
TOILET
The fashion designers amongst you will know what a 'toile' is - a rough cloth mock up of a garment using cheap simple fabric. This gives us a lead into the origin of the word 'toilet'. A 'toilette' was originally a rough cloth bag for keeping your dirty clothes in, like a laundry bag. People used to change for bed in private, often in the smallest room in the house, and the room began being referred to as the 'the room with the toilette'. Toillete became synonymous with 'dressing room', especially one with a lavatory attached, and after the practice of dressing in the lavatory ceased, the name stuck.
CANCER
The Greek physician Galen (129-200 A.D.) noted the swollen veins around a certain type of tumour resembled the legs of a crab, hence referred to it as a 'cancer', meaning 'crab' in Latin.
STORK
This tall bird is known as a stork due to it's 'stick-like' legs, as the German word for stick is 'storch'. The reason why the stork is known as the bringer of babies is because in colloquial german, 'storch' is a nickname for the penis.
It's a "tennis triple whammy" today. Tennis was a game initially played using a the flat of your hand, not a racquet. This leads to our first definition, the french word for the palm of the hand is 'requette', which obviously leads us to 'racquet'. As it was originally a manual game, the name 'tennis' comes from the french verb 'tenir', meaning 'to hold'. It's is believed that upon serving the ball, a player would shout 'tenez!' meaning, 'get a hold of this!', which led to the game being known as 'Tennis'. Finally, a score of zero in tennis is referred to as 'love' because the symbol for a zero looks like an egg. The egg in french is 'l'oeuf', which has been interpreted as 'love' in English.
BULLET
This originates from around 1550. The french word for ball is 'boule' (as in the french village game), so a little ball is a 'boullette', hence 'bullet': a little ball of metal.
DISASTER
The word 'disaster' is astrological in origin, regarding a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of the planets. It's origin is a portmanteau of 'dis' (meaning bad or negative) and 'astro' (meaning the stars and planets). Therefore 'dis-astro' means 'unfavourable stars'.
HAZARD
This term evolved from the Arabic 'al zahr', which means 'the dice'. In Western Europe the term came to be associated with a number of games using dice, which were learned during the Crusades whilst in the Holy Land. The term eventually took on the connotation of danger because, from very early on, games using dice were associated with gambling and con artists using corrupted dice.
GRENADE
These small hand held bombs were named after the french word for pomegranate: 'granade'. This fruit is similar in construction to the device, with it's many seeds inside a shell. Soldiers would refer to the bombs as 'granade' so the name stuck. (Granade is also provides the origin for the french cordial 'grenadine')
Funky
The word 'funk' comes from the french 'fumigare' meaning 'to smoke' and was used as a reference to the bad smell given off by strong smoked cheeses. The term 'funky' was used by early 20th century writers in reference to a body odour alledgedly specifically exuded by blacks. This was re-appropriated by jazz performers in reference to a music with depth and body, like a strong cheese.
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