Where does “addle pate” come from?
addle pate (English) comes from English pâté, from French pâté, from French pâte, from Middle French paste, from Old French pasté, from Latin pasta, from Ancient Greek παστά, from Ancient Greek παστός — to shake.
addle pate (English): A foolish or dull-witted person
Definitions
- A foolish or dull-witted person
Ancestry of “addle pate”, step by step
addle pate traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English pâté
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pâté | A finely-ground paste of meat, fish or... |
| 2 | French | pâté | paste; pâté |
| 3 | French | pâte | paste; pastry; dough; batter; pastas |
| 4 | Middle French | paste | — |
| 5 | Old French | pasté | pie or a similar baked good |
| 6 | Latin | pasta | paste; nominative/vocative feminine singular of... |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | παστά | barley porridge |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | παστός | sprinkled with salt, salted; woman's chamber,... |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | πάσσω | I sprinkle |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷeh₁t- | to shake |