Where does “botch” come from?
Botch comes from Middle English bocchen, from Anglo-Norman boche, from Latin bucca, originally meaning cheek or mouth.
botch (English): To perform in an unacceptable or incompetent...
Definitions
- To perform in an unacceptable or incompetent...
Ancestry of “botch”, step by step
botch traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Old English botettan
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old English | botettan | to improve |
| 2 | Old English | bōt | help, relief, advantage, remedy; compensation for... |
| 3 | Proto-Turkic | botu | — |
| 4 | Spanish | voto | vote; vow |
| 5 | Latin | vōtum | promise, dedication, vow, solemn pledge |
| 6 | Latin | votus | vowed, promised; devoted to (a deity); having been vowed |
| 7 | Latin | vovere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 8 | Latin | voveo | I vow, promise; I dedicate or devote to a deity;... |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | wogʷeō | I vow, promise; dedicate or devote to a deity; I... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁wegʷʰ- | to promise, to vow; to praise |
via Middle Dutch botsen
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle Dutch | botsen | — |
via Middle English bocchen
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | bocchen | to mend, patch up, repair |